Parents Starting To Push Kids To Study Computer, Not Foreign, Languages

Kids would rather learn the Python programming language than French, a new (awesome) study by Ocado Technology suggests.

The study involved 1,000 primary school children, 1,000 secondary school children and 1,000 parents. As it turns out, six out of 10 parents would prefer their children to learn Python instead of French.

The survey was done to assess the progress of the new curriculum, which saw coding introduced as a core component.

In primary school, three-quarters of children said they would rather learn how to program a robot. In secondary school, however, enthusiasm drops hard, and that is a problem, according to Paul Clarke, director of technology at Ocado.

More than half of students listed the Computer Science GCSE as an “easy option”:

“Unfortunately this is an example of a wider and more serious problem that we face in terms of Computer Science in the UK not being treated as the serious engineering discipline that it undoubtedly is,” Clarke told IBTimes.

“The irony is that this is at a time when we are facing a massive shortfall in the number of software engineers and IT specialists who will be required to help build out the UK’s digital economy.”

The introduction of Computing – the biggest overhaul to the national curriculum since 2000 – was described by the man overseeing the new programmes of study as like launching a rocket.

“My mental image is that it’s like a rocket taking off,” said Simon Peyton Jones, chair of the Computing at School (CAS) group. “Lift off is a very important moment.”