[MGSA-L] Greece should be protecting coding lessons in schools, not cutting them

June Samaras june.samaras at gmail.com
Mon Jul 7 19:59:54 PDT 2014


Greece should be protecting coding lessons in schools, not cutting them
2013's Hour of Code showed Greek students' enthusiasm for programming, so
why isn't the government supporting it?

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/16/greece-coding-schools-programming-children

Mina Theofilatou
theguardian.com, Monday 16 June 2014 11.35 BST

Coding is becoming acknowledged as a critical literacy for the 21st
century. In Greece, despite a four-year long, devastating financial crisis
and a much-criticised government, Greece ranked sixth  worldwide in the
number of students completing 2013's Hour of Code  challenge.

Students in Greece have enjoyed the option of a coding class in their
senior year of high school for the past 15 years, which is examined
nationally in the technology orientation of the University Placement Exams.

Yet the Greek government, with its new school bill proposals in August
2013, astonished students and teachers by moving to eliminate technology
completely from these exams.

In response, university professors and teachers' associations objected in
letters and petitions , and hundreds commented on the government's
consultation website. This, in the same year marking the launch of the Hour
of Code, which engaged as many teachers as possible in introducing students
to an hour-long programming activity in class.

Greece has always been a small country lacking technology infrastructure in
schools, but teachers and students embraced the Hour of Code initiative
with fervour, ranking only behind the US, UK, Canada, Turkey and India on
the global leaderboard.

US president Barack Obama may have stressed how important coding is to the
economy , but the Greek administration thinks otherwise and since
September, coding has had no place in our high-school curriculum.

“The children of today are far from the rural or even typical industrial
societies we knew,” wrote Joseph Sifakis, laureate of the 2007 Turing
award, in a powerful newspaper opinion piece  arguing that the bill
promoted digital illiteracy.

“In modern societies we spend 95% of our time using technology products.
Education should provide youngsters with the necessary theoretical and
practical tools – and skills – to comprehend this technological world and
pursue a successful career in its ranks.”

Since then, three hours of computer science have been introduced into the
core curriculum, while another item on the government's agenda is the
"Digital School" initiative, which the education minister, Constantinos
Arvanitopoulos,  has said is about “introducing ICT in education, leading
to innovation in both teaching and learning".

Computer science teachers, technology-oriented students and their parents
remain confused. Did they have to lose their coding classes?

Unemployment is soaring in Greece, as the government tries to satisfy
demands from the European commission, IMF and European Central Bank – the
"Troika" as they are known – for more austerity measures.

Those who do still have a job are dealing with regular salary cuts , while
taxes and prices are still rising. The dwindling nature of the economy is
shown by the number of businesses closing every day .

But the Greek government should be protecting education policies that
foster economic growth opportunities – not chopping them.

Mina Theofilatou is a computer science teacher and electrical and computing
engineer in Kefalonia, Greece
-----------------------------
June Samaras
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : june.samaras at gmail.com
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