Why Apple chief Tim Cook says international students should learn coding ahead of learning English as a second language

Apple chief executive Tim Cook has weighed up the pros and cons of learning English as a second language and learning coding,  pointing to the benefits of the latter.

French media company Konbini has posted a video via its Facebook page in which Cook emphasises that coders have the capacity to express themselves to people around the world.

“If I were a French student, and I were 10-years-old, I think it would be more important for me to learn coding than English,” Cook says.

“I’m not telling people not to learn English and so forth, but I think you understand what I’m saying is that this is a language that you can express yourself to seven billion people in the world.”

Cook, who has recently been touring France, with his itinerary including a meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron, believes “coding should be required in every public school in the world”.

The aim, he observes, is to promote creativity; technology has the capacity to assist this process, he says.

“I think creativity is the goal, coding is just to allow that,” he says.

“Creativity is in the front seat, technology is in the back seat. It’s sort of the blend of both of these that you can do such powerful things now.”