It’s a skill that’s got insatiable demand, not only right now, but everything that turns on will eventually have code. S: Should high schools teach coding to all students? Should this become a required subject, like math or history?Ī: Yes, I believe so. To quote Marc Andreessen, an investor, software engineer, andĬo-author of Mosaic, “Software is eating the world.” Education is a huge challenge and STEM will have to be a pillar if we’re going to keep leading the world. Although you’ve had some discrepancies with Congress regarding the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Senate’s Protect IP Act, do you believe the government is heading in the right direction? If not, what should schools be focusing on?Ī: STEM-focused education is going to be vital for this generation to compete in the new economy. S: The Obama administration is pushing the Department of Education in a STEM-focused direction. But if I could do it all again, I’d have kept programming all these years. He’s the one who wrote all of reddit’s code. However, I stopped when I started working with Steve because he was a far better developer. While I did pick up certain skills through high school and community college classes, I mostly taught myself. and are two of my favorites I love them so much I invested in them. You don’t need to wait to enroll in a class at school. As the wave of the future, do you think students should major in STEM fields, or do you believe anyone can teach themselves STEM skills?Ī: I’ve been going all over the country encouraging people to start learning how to code. But you also know how to code and build websites. S: You studied history and commerce in college. I also lucked out because my high school (Howard High) had just started an independent study class called “MST Research” (Math, Science, Technology Research) that I was recommended for and took every semester thereafter. S: Was STEM a big part of your teen years? Did you take any high school classes that stood out and still influence you today?Ī: Yes! I was lucky because my parents bought me a computer in middle school and gave me free reign, as well as an Internet connection, which was unbelievably slow compared to today. I went on a speaking tour to over 77 universities to inspire students with an idea and a Wi-Fi signal! Intent on spreading the idea of Internet entrepreneurship far and wide, I wrote my book Without Their Permission. What got us excited about entrepreneurship was a book called Masters of Doom and a talk by Paul Graham we heard during our senior year spring break: How to Start a Startup. We scrapped our original idea and developed something we could build in a browser that solved our problem every morning-what’s new and interesting online. What sparked the idea in the first place?Īlexis: While attending the University of Virginia, Steve Huffman (my cofounder) and I started a mobile phone software company, but it was 2005, and it failed to receive investor funding. Sophie: You founded reddit right after you graduated college. Alexis explains his role in the STEM movement, and advises the future generation of STEM minds. The growth of the Internet, after all, is directly affected by the expansion of technology and the increasing knowledge of STEM in young children and teenagers. It comes as no surprise that Ohanian is a firm believer in the importance STEM education. In Alexis’ own words, “The Internet provides a level playing field.” Alexis believes Internet users should have a voice in what content is available on the web, and has made every effort possible to keep this freedom intact. With more than 21.5 million unique monthly visitors and growing, readers can contribute and vote stories up or down, which then ranks them by popularity on the front page of reddit every day. In a TED Talk (a short speech about Technology, Entertainment, and Design), Alexis described reddit as the “Democratic front page of the best stuff on the web.” Ohanian is the co-founder of one of the most popular social news websites,. Alexis Ohanian, nicknamed “The Mayor of the Internet,” played a huge role in forming this democracy. The Internet today is more like a “democracy” for users than ever before. Over the past two decades or so, Internet users have gained access and credibility, and are able to write, post, and share almost anything online. The ability to share information is what makes the Internet so revolutionary. Without science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), the tool that we all use daily would have never been created. The world in 2014 would not be the same without the Internet.
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