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In a world being remade by Information Technology, computer programming should be taught to all students, Thai experts say. 
泰国专家说，在信息技术所改造的世界中，应该向所有学生教授计算机编程。
We live in an age when many children learn how to manipulate smartphones by swiping and tapping on screens before they even learn to speak. Information technology has come to dominate much of our lives from youth to senescence.   我们生活在一个这样的时代，许多孩子甚至在学说话之前就通过滑动和点击屏幕来学习如何操作智能手机。从青年到衰老，信息技术已经占据了我们生活的大部分。
Yet most youngsters remain passive users of such technologies, even though there are great opportunities for those that learn to code. By acquiring coding and other hi-tech aptitudes, they will come to possess marketable skills that are increasingly in high demand as advances in IT continue to progress at breakneck speed. 然而，即使对于那些学习编码的人来说，这是一个巨大的机会，但大多数年轻人仍然是这种技术的被动用户。通过获得编码和其他高科技方面的才能，他们将掌握市场技能，随着IT的发展以惊人的速度不断发展，其需求也越来越高。
Many experts have even called for coding to be introduced into curricula for young learners. More and more parents, too, eager for their offspring to acquire coding skills at an early age.许多专家甚至呼吁将编码引入年轻学习者的课程。越来越多的父母也渴望他们的后代在小时候就学习编码技能。 
India, a global hub of IT services, is a case in point. Programming centres for children are mushrooming around the nations with the aim of training the next generation of Indian IT whiz kids. At many of these centres children can begin to learn how to code, much to the delight of their parents.  印度是全球IT服务中心，就是一个很好的例子。儿童编程中心正在各国兴起，其目的是训练印度的IT奇才孩子的下一代。在许多这样的中心中，孩子们可以开始学习如何编码，这使父母非常高兴。
 “Children are now exposed to technology as soon as they are born, but it is better if my child engages with technology with a critical understanding rather than becoming a passive user,” one parent, whose four-year-old son studies at one such centre, told an online magazine in India.一位4岁孩子的父母跟印度一家在线杂志说：“现在，孩子出生后就开始接触技术，但最好是让我的孩子以具有批判性的理解来从事技术，而不是成为被动的用户。”
In societies that are increasingly benefitting from a global information economy, good IT skills are a must for many new graduates if they are to succeed professionally. “Before the Industrial Revolution, fewer than 10% of schools taught mathematics,” explains Karan Bajaj, who set up a programming centre for children in Mumbai last year. 在日益受益于全球信息经济的社会中，要想在职业上取得成功，许多新毕业生必须具备良好的IT技能。“在工业革命之前，不到10％的学校教授数学。”去年在孟买成立了一个儿童编程中心的凯伦·巴哈杰解释道。
 “Every school introduced mathematics because that was the centre of the revolution,” Bajaj adds. “Now we are in the middle of the computer revolution, and it’s the same phenomenon: schools need to realise the importance of coding as a skill.”  “每所学校都引入了数学，因为那是革命的中心，”巴哈杰补充说。“现在我们正处于计算机革命的中间，这是一种现象：学校需要意识到编码作为一项技能的重要性。”  
 In South Korea, another IT trailblazer, curricula in elementary schools will now include software-writing classes starting this year. Many Korean experts believe that children should begin to be trained in computer programming at an early age so that they can come to understand the nature of the technologies upon which their lives will depend, from mobile phones to trains and from banks to nuclear power plants. 在韩国，另一个IT开拓者，小学的课程现在将从今年开始包括软件编写课程。许多韩国专家认为，应该从小就开始对儿童进行计算机编程方面的培训，以便他们能够理解生活所依赖的技术的本质，从手机到火车，从银行到核电站，这些都是他们生活的基础。
 “Just like people’s level of education has a lasting impact on their lives, access to coding education will definitely have an influence on what opportunities our children have in coming years,” Seo Jung-yun, a professor computer science at Sogang University in Seoul, told Korea Bizwire. “就像人们的教育水平对他们的生活产生了持久的影响一样，获得编码教育绝对会影响我们的孩子在未来几年内所拥有的机会，”西江大学计算机科学教授徐静云（Seo Jung-yun）说道。首尔告诉韩国Bizwire。
Yet despite the great speed with which South Korea has seen its information technology develop in recent years, the country is facing difficulties in providing efficient computer programming education on a larger scale. One of the main challenges lies in enhancing the competence of teachers so they train students adequately about the subject. 尽管近几年韩国信息技术发展迅速，但韩国在提供大规模有效计算机编程教育方面仍面临困难。主要挑战之一是提高教师的能力，以便他们对学生进行适当的培训。
Sparking more students’ interest in coding is another challenge.   激发更多学生对编码的兴趣是另一个挑战。
“Software writing, which an education policymaker says will be no less important than English in the future, should be included among the subjects that are tested for in admissions to universities,” the Korea Herald argued in an editorial. “Otherwise, it will be difficult to keep middle and high school students interested in software writing.”《韩国先驱报》在社论中说：“教育政策制定者说，软件写作在将来将不比英语重要，应该包括在大学录取考试中要测试的主题中。” “否则，将很难使中学生和高中生对软件编写感兴趣。” 
 Japan has, too, mandated that computer programming courses be included into elementary school curricula as of next year. The move comes just as the number of skilled IT professionals will need to be boosted significantly in order to meet growing demand by Japan’s domestic IT market. Japan, which faces acute workforce shortages in several areas because of its fast-ageing population, is expected to lack 290,000 tech workers in 2020 and as many as 590,000 by 2030, according to the country’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.     日本也要求从明年开始将计算机程序设计课程纳入小学课程。此举之所以出现，恰恰是为了满足日本国内IT市场不断增长的需求，需要大大提高熟练的IT专业人员的数量。据日本经济产业省称，由于人口迅速老龄化，日本在几个地区面临严重的劳动力短缺，预计到2020年日本将缺少290,000名技术工人，到2030年将缺少590,000人。
The onus is now on the country’s educators to train a new generation of highly skilled IT professionals.   现在，该国的教育工作者有责任培训新一代高技能的IT专业人员。
“Teachers are facing growing burdens, so for now it’s only realistic to give students a feel for the beginning stages” of programming, Yuta Tonegawa, head of the non-profit Minna no Code (“Code for Everyone”), told Nikkei Asian Review.  非营利性组织“Minna没有编程”的“人人编程”负责人Yuta Tonegawa对《日经亚洲评论》表示：“教师正面临越来越重的负担，因此，现在让学生感受到编程的开始是现实的” 。
Making coding courses a compulsory part of elementary school education is “a step forward, but still insufficient compared to other countries,” stresses Ken Sakamura, a professor of computer science at Toyo University. Yet some studies have shown that many teachers lack both the technical wherewithal and the emotional drive to teach the subject sufficiently well.  东洋大学（Toyo University）计算机科学教授坂村健（Ken Sakamura）强调，将编码课程作为小学义务教育的一部分，是“前进的一步，但与其他国家相比，仍然是不足的”。然而，一些研究表明，许多教师缺乏足够的技术手段和情感驱动力来很好地教授该科目。 
However, failure is not an option, Sakamura says. “We have to flesh out the content, such as by making [programming] its own subject, or else we’ll fall behind the rest of the world,” the expert warns.  但是，失败不是一种选择，坂村说。专家说：“我们必须充实内容，例如通过使[编程]成为自己的主题，否则我们将落后于世界其他地区。”  
The bleak prospect of falling behind could also befall Thailand. Several prominent Thai policymakers recognise that. During a recent parliamentary debate Deputy Education Minister Kalaya Sophonpanich stressed that Thailand must start introducing coding into primary school education as a “third language,” in addition to Thai and English. 落后的黯淡前景也可能降临泰国。泰国几位杰出的决策者都承认这一点。在最近的一次议会辩论中，教育部副部长卡拉扬·索蓬帕尼奇（Kalaya Sophonpanich）强调，泰国必须开始将编码作为泰国和英语之外的“第三种语言”引入小学教育

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