Well whatever he pushes for, the Republicans will oppose it, so he should have been pushing for more computer surveillance in schools.

> "I would no more urge everyone to learn to program than I would urge everyone to learn to plumb."

Agreed, but I would expect everyone to know how to flush a toilet. I think computer literacy is essential, not for your kid's career, but for your kid's life.

Similarly, plumbing literacy is very broadly useful. Even if you never become a professional plumber, you will probably benefit if you can figure out why a toilet or sink is not working as expected.

Yeah, if you turn the pressure off and are careful, you can do a lot of poking around. Like with computers. Turn the power off, and you can poke around quite a bit. Not so much with phones and modern day laptops though :/

Being able to fix your own sink is actually a useful skill.

Duct tape.

With a large enough roll you could rule the universe.

The public school curriculum was designed to prepare students for employment, which many would consider mercenary but I find perfectly reasonable. It's entirely within the spirit of public education in the US to require computer literacy at the primary level and computer science at the secondary level.

I don't understand the aversion to teaching people things specifically because it will help them on a job. Education should prepare people to lead fulfilling lives as part of a peaceful, cohesive society. Knowing how to solve other people's problems is a huge part of that in a society where not all work is done by robots.