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Most people don't manipulate numbers in their daily lives much, but are taught basic maths. Most people are taught to write an essay, though they probably won't do it at all in their daily lives. In the same vein, most people should be taught how programming works and do some very basic stuff, simply to get what it's about, not to practice it daily.

Everyone who has money should be able to balance a checkbook and write a simple budget.

Oh how I wish this was the reality we lived in. Sadly, it's not..

Not everyone who is functionally literate must also be able to write a screenplay or discern why Hemingway's style is superior to Tom Clancy's.