“The Script Is More Powerful Than The Pen” –(my husband came up with this title)

Most of us take reading and writing for granted. If you were raised in a western nation, you have probably been reading since before going to school, and maybe even writing before school as well. No one questions whether or not reading and writing is a good, or necessary thing. In fact, its a sign of pride when you have a child that shows the ability to read or write earlier than others.

We see it as a natural thing, like learning to walk and talk.

But, its not. Reading and writing are learned skills. Things that our culture and society deem implicit to your ability to interact. In fact, if you don’t know how to read and write, this can be a huge hinderance to your ability to participate. Don’t believe me, go somewhere where they speak, and write in a language that you don’t know. See how far you can get.

It hasn’t always been this way. Reading and writing used to be taught to only a few. Just people who might need it. Clergy, physicians, lawyers and aristocrats that had the money to send their kids to school. Most people were busy trying to make a living and survive. They were farmers, blacksmiths, traders. They didn’t have time to learn to read and write, nor the money to do so. Even the invention of the printing press didn’t create the mass conversion to reading and writing. It took all the way until the industrial revolution–19th century–for literacy to become a widespread thing.

Does this story remind you of another one?

Maybe it sounds a bit like our discussions today about whether or not you should learn to code. About if you have the right “personality” for that endeavor. If coding is for you.

Learning to code is today’s literacy question.

I don’t think that learning to code has much to do with your personality, or if your brain is wired to think this way. We don’t give ourselves a choice when it comes to reading and writing, so why should learning to code be different?

It is fast becoming the foundation to our virtual world. The creation of a digital footprint starts at birth now for many babies. Shouldn’t you learn how to manipulate your virtual world, like how you learn to manipulate your physical world?

My husband talked to me today about the importance of having a trade. That in the not so distant past, it was common for people to learn how to do something that others could easily see. Being a mechanic, learning to cook, learning to sew, all qualify as a trade. And so does learning to code. Unlike other forms of learning, learning to code allows you to produce a product, something that resembles a trade.

So learning to code is a modern way of having a trade. Having that literacy not only allows you to more easily maneuver through our ever-growing dependency on technology, but give you the chance to create it as well. This time around, the option to fashion the world that is being built around you isn’t in the hands of clergy, physicians, lawyers and wealthy aristocrats. We all have the chance to contribute. But, this is a decision you have to make.

What will you choose?