Bill would count computer programming as foreign language

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- by Herald Tribune

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Herald Tribune, December 9, 2015

Dalton Collins, a third-year computer science student at New College of Florida, took two years of Spanish in high school. What does he remember? Nada. If he had taken two years of computer coding instead, Collins said he would have found his passion way earlier. A bill approved by the Florida Senate’s education committee last week could take care of that.

The bill would allow computer coding course credits to fulfill foreign language requirements in the state’s high schools. Senate Bill 468 also mandates that the state’s colleges and universities, as well as the state-funded Bright Futures scholarship, recognize coding course credits as foreign language credits. The bill also calls for the availability of coding courses in all the state’s high schools…….

But it’s not just foreign language teachers who are skeptical. Matthew Lepinski, Professor of Computer Science at New College, called the bill misguided. In today’s increasingly global technology industry, communication skills are equally as important as technical expertise, he said.

“I have personally collaborated with experts from five continents, and the fact that I am barely conversant in a second language has been a limitation to me professionally,” Lepinski said…..