Look, I try to explain my though on this and everytime I do, my karma gets blasted. Please try to understand I'm not against anyone here or the principals that you stand for - I'm only stating my opinion. I don't teach my kids to code because I want them to focus on a field that has a future that could lead them to have a lucrative career, be successful, financially secure and someday marry a lovely wife and give me some great grandchildren. Coding is not that path. There are several factors that contribute. 1) We have people that come from other countries that bring with them a lower standard of living. Those people can be qualified for these types of jobs, and will bring the average salary down with them - simply because they'll accept less. 2) Our society is not impressed with those with brains. We are more geared toward giving money to the football team mentality, which basically entails - follow the team, take orders and don't think. These are the people that tend to become successful, as I have witnessed anyway. We also tend to make a joke of the bright. We make movies like "the intern" that shows smart people as not fun, not cool, and not someone you want to be. You want to be more like the idiots - Vaughn and Wilson. Smart people aren't respected, and as a result, society doesn't pay them. We'd rather pay the firefighters, our heroes. 3) Coders aren't the best business people. Although I understand the whole free software movement, and like aspects of it, it's bringing us all down as people who have a chance to be paid well (as I believe we should). My salary is not sufficient for joining the country club, or eating at the high end steak joints. My sales buddies have left me in the dust. When something is made to be free, for indirect reasons that I won't get into - it's quality goes down, and it's value goes down. Companies that make software have to come up with creative ways to even make money doing this anymore. I wish we'd take a cue from the artists and musicians, who constantly speak of the way that their product now being free has destroyed their industry, and led to nothing but crap being produced these days. So... For my kids? They're extremely bright - and could actually learn calculus and perhaps write brilliant code. But I'm going to steer them towards some public sector job - like spraying water on a fire - because that's how they'll become successful. They'll get the good healthcare benefits (that we pay for handsomely) that last for life, they'll work 3 days on and 4 days off, which will give them an opportunity to create some meathead company like landscaping or HVAC - then they won't have to pay taxes anymore either. It's just my opinion - but I really think we've shot ourselves in the foot.