In general, I agree with the sentiment that students should explore disciplines that they are not familiar or comfortable with. As Carleton students, we are encouraged to do this because of the different liberal arts requirements that we must complete to graduate. I recognize that these requirements are essential in creating well-rounded and well-informed scholars; however, I more closely align with Donahue’s argument: that humanities students should not be forced to learn to program but instead engage with the computer sciences in a way that reflects their interests and skills.
To think of the computer sciences as one “computer science” unified by the language of code makes as much sense as thinking of the humanities as one discipline united by the language of (in the case of the American academy) English.
Evan Donahue, A “Hello World” Apart (why humanities students should NOT learn to program)
Donahue is not arguing that humanities students should not learn to code at all whatsoever, but that coding is not the only way to engage with computer sciences. I believe this is an important distinction because nobody should be forced to learn a skill that they do not enjoy or do not need; nevertheless, I do believe that everyone should gain an interdisciplinary education. Just as Carleton students are required to take a general science class with a lab rather than a specific chemistry or physics class, humanities students should only be required to take a class that utilizes the general formal procedures present in computer science courses, and they should not be required to take a specific programming class.
In high school, I competed in UIL (University Interscholastic League) for Computer Science. My team and I studied Java, but I took written exams that tested my conceptual understanding of the programming language rather than my practical application of it. In my senior year of high school, I worked at Code Ninjas and taught students aged 5-14 how to program games, starting with block coding, then JavaScript, then C# in Unity, but I mostly taught the younger students because I was not that familiar with Unity. Last term, I took Introduction to Computer Science, so now I have a sort of background in Python.
I completed the beginner HTML and CSS tutorials. One of the ways coding can be utilized in humanities is by creating a form in HTML to gather qualitative data through a survey. An example of this can be seen in this code sample:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>not ALL humanities students</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Should humanities students learn how to code?</h1>
<h2>My Thoughts</h2>
<p>I believe humanities students should learn how to code only if it suits their personal and/or career interests. There are other ways students may be able to practice formal algorithmic reasoning and programming is not the only way to gain those skills.</p>
<h2>Your Thoughts</h2>
<form>
<p>Name:</p>
<p><input name="name" value="Your name"></p>
<p>I am a...</p>
<p><input type="radio" name="iama" value="humanities"> Humanities Student</p>
<p><input type="radio" name="iama" value="computerscience"> Computer Science Student</p>
<p><input type="radio" name="iama" value="both"> Humanities AND Computer Science Student</p>
<p><input type="radio" name="iama" value="different" checked> Different Major</p>
<p>I believe...</p>
<p><input type="radio" name="ibelieve" value="shouldlearn"> humanities students SHOULD learn how to code</p>
<p><input type="radio" name="ibelieve" value="shouldnotlearn"> humanities students SHOULD NOT learn how to code</p>
<p><input type="radio" name="ibelieve" value="nuance" checked>it's much more nuanced</p>
<p>Because...</p>
<p><textarea rows="10" cols="20" name="comments">Your Thoughts</textarea></p>
<p><input type="submit"></p>
</form>
</body>
</html>1 thought on “Interdisciplinary Learning is More Important than Coding: Lab Assignment (Week 2)”
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Hi Trixie, I believe everyone should learn to code. But I really agree with your points—especially about Carleton’s lab requirement. For me, the way I think about whether humanities students should learn to code is similar to how we approach elementary school science. We learn the basics of biology, chemistry, and physics, not to become scientists, but to understand the world around us. In the same way, I believe everyone should learn the basics of coding—not to become programmers, but to be able to read and understand it at a general level.