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Why Apple chief Tim Cook says international students should learn coding ahead of learning English as a second language

Apple chief executive Tim Cook has weighed up the pros and cons of learning English as a second language and learning coding,ย  pointing to the benefits of the latter. French media company Konbini has posted a video via its Facebook page in which Cook emphasises that coders have the capacity to express themselves to people […]
Martin Kovacs
Martin Kovacs
Tim Cook

Apple chief executive Tim Cook has weighed up the pros and cons of learning English as a second language and learning coding,ย  pointing to the benefits of the latter.

French media company Konbini has posted a video via its Facebook page in which Cook emphasises that coders have the capacity to express themselves to people around the world.

โ€œIf I were a French student, and I were 10-years-old, I think it would be more important for me to learn coding than English,โ€ Cook says.

โ€œI’m not telling people not to learn English and so forth, but I think you understand what I’m saying is that this is a language that you can express yourself to seven billion people in the world.โ€

Cook, whoย has recently been touring France, with his itinerary including a meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron, believes โ€œcoding should be required in every public school in the worldโ€.

The aim, he observes, is to promote creativity; technology has the capacity to assist this process, he says.

โ€œI think creativity is the goal, coding is just to allow that,โ€ he says.

โ€œCreativity is in the front seat, technology is in the back seat. It’s sort of the blend of both of these that you can do such powerful things now.โ€

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