Code monkey and perspective of tech in Bhutan

My friend sent me vid from BBS talking about code monkey and asked me my thoughts. Well my thoughts turned into an essay so I'm just posting it as a blog.

This blog is in reference to this vid and is just straight up a reply to my friend:

I feel like this whole code monkey thing and how this video itself was made speaks volumes about what tech and the understanding of tech looks like in Bhutan. Like I know the video is supposed to be about Code Monkey but then the whole concept of this video was so geared towards the _royal_gift_ rather than the core concept of programming and building stuff with, well, just a computer. The whole video was just pandering to HM’s perspective and not that it's bad but I think the whole tech hype in Bhutan is fueled just by HM’s hype and not because the people really believe/think programming is the key to the future.
But Code Monkey, like how the anchor said in the video, is a base and a foundation for them to prepare them for the future. But so many of these teachers/students were just talking about how Code Monkey this and Code Monkey that, meaning that they don't really have a grasp on what these words can do/build.

And in relation to Code Monkey, it might not necessarily be a good initiative. Of course it introduces students to programming from a young age. And this makes me sound like a hater to initiatives but it's not that. I definitely think that initiatives have to be made and students and youth should be made aware of programming. Just knowing that something like this exists, inspires students and drives curiosity to know more.
But getting back, I feel like maybe in 5 years time this will be better but right now just from my experiences with my 7th grade brother at Changzamtog it feels like Code Monkey rather than attracting students to programming is driving them away from it. Just speaking from his experience, his teacher doesn’t really know much and said to them that if they want to know more they should just browse youtube (not the fault of the teacher cause this initiative is just so new). But that's the thing right now you have half baked knowledge of teachers teaching and if you don't really understand something properly yourself then you can just forget about teaching. Because to actually convey ideas and teach cohesively, you yourself have to know and understand the thing in and out.
And this kind of thing has just confused my brother right, he doesn't understand what the thing he writes does and just copy pastes things from youtube/his friends. Now there's a risk of programming becoming the new _math_ where it becomes this hated subject that's hard to grasp. And that's more dangerous than just not teaching them. Because it means that curiosity and interest for this field is killed before they even fully begin to comprehend what they're doing. Like this could potentially kill off curiosity of kids that you know in due time get exposed to coding themselves, find really good material from the internet and just learn on their own.

The risk I talked of isn't just based on my assumptions, I can see it from my brother. He’s very interested in technology, like all the new phones, their specs and other gaming stuff as well but now when I mention programming to him he has this look of distaste and doesn't really like the subject.

What I think would be a good idea would be to actually provide like a 1-2 weeks intensive course to kids from people who are passionate about technology, know about it and can teach cohesively. This would inspire students not just because they’re curious about the subject but also because their teachers are someone whom you might aspire to be. Instead of just y'know 9-5 clerks with not much of a vision for the future. Quick boot camps like these would achieve 2 things that I think are important: firstly it introduces kids to the world of programming and like I said above makes them aware of it. Secondly you have really charismatic people teaching them for a short duration of time and really drive the students' curiosity. Which I feel would drive kids to learn on their own, and self learning, in my opinion, is a thousand times more important than programming or whatever is the current hype.

PS: I feel like the anchor really knows the implication and understands more than most of the guys featured in the vids.