Whitehat Jr is About to Do What Engineering mania did to Indian kids and their dreams.
By: Venkatapathi Raju Gangiri
Tags: India, Coding, Kids And Tech, Whitehat Jr, Education

Dear Whitehat Jr — teach coding but not kill dreams

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Story of Elon, an Indian kid

Elon, not Elon Musk :), is a five-year-old kid in the incredible country of India. Kids in India always have (at least used to have) a pretty good childhood. Like all children, Elon goes to school, finds friends, learns whatever his brain can retain, comes home, and life goes on. All good? How can it be?

Then comes COVID-19. The world stopped. So does India, and Elon. He is missing his friends and school. However, he got nothing else to do.

Elon’s dad is a typical Indian father. He’s worried that his five-year son is missing school and so he has to do something about. He calls his friend, who is the father of Mark, who is Elon’s friend. Mark father tells Elon’s father that his son will be on a flight to Silicon Valley soon. A dream sold!

Elon’s father is not educated. He often asks his friends for help when it comes to decisions about his son’s education ( and career too !). So how will Elon’s father send his kid to Silicon Valley?

Here comes Whitehat Jr and FOMO

Fear Of Missing Out — Elon’s father want his son to become the next Elon Musk as his son’s friend Mark becomes the next Mark Zuckerberg. Well played Jr.

Elon’s family have neither a smartphone nor a computer at home. So Elon’s father manages to buy one computer and buys his son a lottery ticket for a ticket to Silicon Valley. The curious Jr will now try to learn how to Build full Entrepreneur-ready Games, Apps, {;) Websites and AI/ML Models.

Enough backdrop Here’s my concern

I am from a world where Indian parents are sold dreams for their kids. Yes, I mean the Engineering Mania. Except for today’s Juniors, every Indian who went to school either knew or experienced what Engineering Mania did. I need not emphasise more on it.

Now comes the Engineering Mania v2. We are now at the outset of yet another tragedy. I believe in tech and agree that kids should be taught coding. I hope schools will get a coding curriculum not just tomorrow but soon. Schools can’t sell a ticket to Silicon Valley, right?

Image credit — Whitehat Jr website

We know the world is changing like never before. We did arrive at a time where Elon (not Elon Jr) is worried that AI will be catastrophic if not taken care of. The same Elon is shaping the future of space tech. It does not mean our Elon Jr should become the next Elon Musk.

Though coding is of paramount importance as a skill, it need not be the only skill that every kid out there should have. I am worried the same impact Engineering Mania had will be repeated. Impact, but of negative value.

I have no problem with Whitehat Jr changing the world by teaching kids to learn to code if they can. Even it may help the kids. But what bewildered me is the curriculum.

A beginner curriculum ( Grade 1) has Interactive Gaming App, Mobile App Development, Native Apps, Utility Apps, Database Management, Chat Bot Apps, SpaceTech simulation apps among others. This curriculum itself should make a kid meet the requirements for a Full Stack dev role.

Ads, website content etc. — The social dilemma

Whitehat Jr’s advert on YouTube

Chintu attended live coding classes on Whitehat Jr. Built an app and the tech emperors are fighting each other before Chintu’s house to invest in his app! Here we got Chintu, CEO, some-tesla-like-company.

The website got pretty UI and UX. I think some Jr might have developed it. Who knows? However, thanks to the content writing team. If I have been married and had a kid, I might have enrolled him on Whitehat Jr too :)