January 16, 2018
A British computer science pioneer called on children to teach the basics of coding and programming in the second year of their lives.
Lady Stephanie Shirley, who founded a company that was one of the first software companies in the 1960s, said that teaching children, especially girls, the principles of programming would have given them the desire to solve puzzles and solve problems before they become "software savants".
Shirley confirmed that the evidence suggests that the best time to teach children simple cryptographic activities is between the ages of two and seven. "The most successful ones are those starting at the age of five to 6. In a sense, this is the best time to learn anything," she said.
Lady Stephanie Shirley's comments came after Britain's junior high school exams showed a significant gender gap in computing, with only 9.8 percent of girls choosing it.
Shirley also called on technology companies such as Google and Facebook to adopt an operating and employment policy that would help address the low proportion of software. Women account for only 20 percent of Google's engineers, the overall technology sector. A recent study showed that the founders of emerging technology companies were more likely to receive men than venture capital funds that were twice as high as women who founded such companies.
Lady Stephanie Shirley, who founded a company that was one of the first software companies in the 1960s, said that teaching children, especially girls, the principles of programming would have given them the desire to solve puzzles and solve problems before they become "software savants".
Shirley confirmed that the evidence suggests that the best time to teach children simple cryptographic activities is between the ages of two and seven. "The most successful ones are those starting at the age of five to 6. In a sense, this is the best time to learn anything," she said.
Lady Stephanie Shirley's comments came after Britain's junior high school exams showed a significant gender gap in computing, with only 9.8 percent of girls choosing it.
Shirley also called on technology companies such as Google and Facebook to adopt an operating and employment policy that would help address the low proportion of software. Women account for only 20 percent of Google's engineers, the overall technology sector. A recent study showed that the founders of emerging technology companies were more likely to receive men than venture capital funds that were twice as high as women who founded such companies.
Shirley said today's leaders are setting the leaders of tomorrow in this imbalance of gender because "it is instinctive to occupy who is in your image." She predicted that this gender gap would continue "until we learn to strip some of our relationships of her identity and computers help."
Shirley called for the programmers to be assessed on the basis of skill rather than sex without the need for a picture or name that would indicate the gender of the person applying for the job, but rather his performance and achievements in the selection process.
Shirley said the failure to bridge the gender gap has led to "masculine" cultures in some technology companies that women feel excluded from.
Shirley said that the lack of diversity in technology companies resulted in biased products for the male programmer. "There are many useful things like measuring the heartbeat but it does not help with the menstrual cycle," she said.
Since her retirement, Shirley has devoted much of her time and wealth to humanitarian issues such as the treatment of autism. In modern technology such as robots and artificial intelligence, she says, there is enormous potential to help children with autism deal with the world and communicate easily with those around them.
Lady Stephanie Shirley said the boarding school she founded for children with autism used a small robot for simple things like teaching children to look and move in a quiet way instead of jogging in all directions. She stressed that the reaction of children was positive for reasons that they do not feel that the robot threatens them. "The robot is patient and can repeat without being taken away from," he said. "This child will never learn."
Shirley called for the programmers to be assessed on the basis of skill rather than sex without the need for a picture or name that would indicate the gender of the person applying for the job, but rather his performance and achievements in the selection process.
Shirley said the failure to bridge the gender gap has led to "masculine" cultures in some technology companies that women feel excluded from.
Shirley said that the lack of diversity in technology companies resulted in biased products for the male programmer. "There are many useful things like measuring the heartbeat but it does not help with the menstrual cycle," she said.
Since her retirement, Shirley has devoted much of her time and wealth to humanitarian issues such as the treatment of autism. In modern technology such as robots and artificial intelligence, she says, there is enormous potential to help children with autism deal with the world and communicate easily with those around them.
Lady Stephanie Shirley said the boarding school she founded for children with autism used a small robot for simple things like teaching children to look and move in a quiet way instead of jogging in all directions. She stressed that the reaction of children was positive for reasons that they do not feel that the robot threatens them. "The robot is patient and can repeat without being taken away from," he said. "This child will never learn."
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