by Pam Olson, Forbes
British parent Emma Mulqueeny is launching a campaign, simply called Coding for Kids, to encourage the U.K. government, schools and other parents to teach their kids how to code. Her goal is, simply, to make sure local children aren’t left behind by the rest of the world and the “thriving digital economy that will drive the future.” She’s already appalled, for one, that computer science isn’t taught as standard in U.K. schools. “We are gifting our children irrelevance in the choices the world makes,” she says. Earlier this week Mulqueeny hosted a BarCamp — part of a series of user-generated conferences — at The Guardian newspaper in London to encourage more people to get involved. She’s also set up an e-petition calling for coding to become part of the U.K. primary school curriculum. So far roughly 1,800 people have signed it. She started the campaign a few months ago with a colleague, Katy Beale, to “initiate the community,” and hopes to hold more BarCamps.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2011/10/15/parents-launch-campaign-to-teach-kids-how-to-code/
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