Does introducing programming earlier help?

Posted Sep 20, 2007 15:12 UTC (Thu) by anton (subscriber, #25547)
In reply to: This word, efficacy ... I do not think it means what they think it means! by AnswerGuy
Parent article: Charming Pythonistas (O'ReillyNet)

the argument that introducing programming earlier in school curricula is a dubious one. Mathematics is introduced very early in the curriculum and women, statistically, exhibit a lower self-confidence in mathematics, too.

Indeed, I have the impression that the proportion of females in our university-level computer science program dropped when the computer course in secondary school became compulsory. However, I don't know how much programming they do there anymore (they used to, though).