Amazingly, America - the birthplace of the Internet - is the only developed nation that does not teach programming in its public schools. Sure, some of our schools have elected to offer "computer" classes, but instead of teaching programming, these classes almost invariably teach programs: how to use Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, or any of the other commercial software packages used in the average workplace. We teach our kids how to get jobs in today's marketplace rather than how to innovate for tomorrow's.

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As we continue to look at programming as a menial skill to be outsourced to developing nations, we will lose our innovative superiority as well. While this may not hurt American corporations capable of sourcing its code from anywhere, it would certainly hurt Americans looking for a skill set to replace our manufacturing jobs.

Great piece on digital literacy by @rushkoff. I'm sure a lot of people will be turned off by some of the economic and military references, but look beyond that and think of digital tools as… …well, as tools, rather than as consumption vectors.

It's just part of the great math & science handwringing in North America: we need to have people actually care about these things, and know how they work. Digital literacy is *important*.

It's the difference between sitting around a fire and knowing how to make one from scratch when it goes out…