"They need to know this stuff," he continued. "In the way that I can get by kind of being OK by it, they can't." To that end, the mayor has sought to make coding proficiency a graduation requirement for Chicago-area students by 2018. Under his proposal, programming classes would count for either math, science, or foreign language credit (and certainly be more useful than a year of AP Latin). Emanuel, however, did not elaborate on whether the proposed national requirement would mirror Chicago's program, nor did he reveal how often his mayoral duties require programming prowess.

[Image Credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images]