I sometimes doubt the practicabilty and wisdom of this persistent drumbeat to get more kids to learn programming. Sure, there's value in it, but it's frequently posited as something all kids should be doing.
Yet, it's frankly not for everyone and the tendency is to diminish the value of other fields (especially if they are completely non-STEM). Worse, this is primarily driven by an economic rationale. Not only do we encourage a monolithic culture that overvalues tech; I also think the assessment of opportunities for pogrammers in the future is overblown. The tech itself will see to this.
The 'secret' is not to say "you should learn programming so you can be become a programmer", but rather "you should learning programming so that you can apply that skill to whatever you end up working with". Even someone working in completely non-STEM fields can potentially derive massive value from knowing some basic programming. Even just knowing some super simple MS Office macros that automate some basic administrative tasks is something that can be applied to basically any job out there where you att any point deal with a computer.
Programming shouldn't be just for programmers, just like writing isn't just for writers.
Learning about programming and how software / hardware works has the same value as learning about the basics of chemistry or biology. You might not use the knowledge in your day-to-day work, but it gives you a better picture of how the universe works.
Yet, it's frankly not for everyone and the tendency is to diminish the value of other fields (especially if they are completely non-STEM). Worse, this is primarily driven by an economic rationale. Not only do we encourage a monolithic culture that overvalues tech; I also think the assessment of opportunities for pogrammers in the future is overblown. The tech itself will see to this.