Speaking as a parent and a coder: I am firmly in the camp that primary-school-ads kids need to be getting computer science and coding as part of the regular curriculum in school. Terence, your sorting example is great, but even if kids only came out of this with an understanding at the level of "this is what a variable is; this is what an IF statement is; this is how a computer program executes; this is what an event is; and so on..." then this would be a big win. Then you start to open up a range of possibilities after that for those kids who have the aptitude and interest to pursue them. The initiatives I have seen making the most progress in this area with real kids are things like Codeclub (though not exclusively and only Codeclub - for example, the people at Codasign are running the after school that my daughter is attending and we are seeing some great results there). The focus in these clubs is making coding fun and engaging kids - absolutely the right approach. However, there is a limit to what you can do in a voluntary club. As with anything involving kids' education, people get very emotional about it. As with anything involving the government, people get very political. I think it's crucial for parents who care about these issues to engage with their schools directly and help schools connect with people and organizations that are doing the right thing.