Peter Saxon sees the future among the dinosaurs

In my first year of high school it was compulsory to take Latin as a subject. To this day I can’t understand why. Mind you, when I went to school, the fall of the Roman Empire was relatively recent history. 

The only thing I remember learning was that agricoli, agricola was something to do with farming –  not to be confused with funiculi, funicular which is a kind of light rail for ascending steep inclines that wouldn’t be invented for another 1400 years. But I digress.

Now there’s a new language in town that if Code Club Australia has its way will be eagerly taken up by primary school aged kids between nine and 11. Code, of course, is the language of computer software – far more useful in today’s world than Latin.

It may sound nerdy at first, but the idea of having the ability to create the next big online game like, say, Minecraft, should be irresistible to many fertile young minds.

I was invited to last week’s launch of Code Club Australia (CCA) in the dinosaur exhibit (where else) at the Australian Museum, Sydney by Clive Dickens (left) who is leaving his position as Director of Digital and Innovation at SCA to take up a similar role at Seven West Media in the new year.

Dickens, who has several hats fighting for time on his one head, sits on the board of directors of CCA, donating his time along with other high profile executives. He is more than familiar with the Code Club concept as it originated in his native UK and now boasts some 2,700 clubs worldwide that have helped teach 40,000 children how to code, in countries such as Brazil, Ukraine, Norway, and Hong Kong.

The local CCA is funded by The Telstra Foundation and is looking for volunteers proficient in Code to run weekly after school workshops. See the delightful video below as a panel of kids interview some applicants.

CCA founder, Annie Parker, said at the launch “Coding is the new literacy, and as a country, we have to acknowledge that software is the language of business today.

“We don’t expect that every child will be the next Mark Zuckerberg, but not enough has been done in recent years to ensure our kids are learning the best balance of skills to allow them to operate in a world where almost everything has a digital component,” she said.

Anyone who has been working in the broadcast industry over the past decade (let alone since the fall of the Roman Empire) knows only too well how the business of radio has migrated from analogue to digital. 

Hopefully, once these kids grow older, with their coding skills, they’ll help to create the compelling content that will secure radio’s future.