equip graduates for the demands of a high-tech economy.

When I attended high school, I had to take a foreign

language requirement.

So my question is, can we make it a national effort to also add

a computer programming language requirement?

The President: I think it makes sense, I really do.

And, you know, part of what I'm trying to do here is to make

sure that we're working with high schools and school

districts all across the country to make the high school

experience relevant for young people,

not all of whom are going to get a four-year college degree or an

advanced degree.

And, you know, I think that the concept of vocational education

got a bad rap at a certain point because the perception was,

well, you know, we're tracking folks into, you know,

blue-collar jobs and we're reserving white-collar jobs for

a certain group.

All those categories, I think, have eroded.

So, you know, you look at somebody like Mark Zuckerberg,

I was sitting next to him at dinner a couple of years ago,

and he basically said, you know, he taught himself programming.

Primarily because he was interested in games.

And there are a whole bunch of young people out there,

I suspect, who if in high school are given the opportunity to

figure out here's how you can design your own games,

but it requires you to know math and it requires you to know

science or, you know, here's what a career in graphic design

looks like, and we're going to start setting those -- you know,

programs in our high schools, not waiting until the community

college, and then you can apprentice with somebody who's

already a graphic designer in your area.

What it does not only is to prepare young people who may

choose not to go to a four-year college to be job ready,

but it also engages kids because they feel like I get this.

This is not just me sitting there slouching in the back of

the room while somebody's lecturing.

And I think given how pervasive computers and the Internet is

now and how integral it is into our economy and how fascinated

kids are with it, I want to make sure that they know how to

actually produce stuff using computers and not simply

consume stuff.