Obama tech aide: Every kid should code

President Obama’s top technology adviser wants every child in America to learn how to write computer code. 

“We need more people to invent more of these companies and be literate in this economy, in this kind of field,” U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith said at the Washington Ideas Forum on Tuesday.

{mosads}All American children should “definitely” learn in school, she added.

“In Vietnam, you learn from second grade. That’s happening in China; the U.K. is moving there.”

But it’s not just children who should learn to write basic computer code, said Smith, a former Google executive who started her job a month ago.

She urged everyone in the country to spend one hour a year learning how to code, through sites such as Code.org.

“These are lucrative, fun, important sectors of our economy,” Smith said.

“It’s an important skill. It doesn’t mean everyone should be a programmer but it’s a 21st century skill to be able to make as much as write.”

Smith started as the Obama administration’s point person for technology after a long career at Google. Most recently, she led the secretive Google X research and development lab, which is the center of the company’s efforts to create self-driving cars, drones and airborne wind power, among other initiatives.

The former chief technology officer, Todd Park, helped to turn around HealthCare.gov after its troubled launch last year and started a digital team to make other arms of government more technologically savvy.