[_lth]

Programming is often reduced to the technical part of putting down code that runs a machine. But as writing is not drawing symbols and reading is not vocal reproduction of these symbols, there is more behind programming than making a machine do what you want. Everything that is teached in school is in the end reduced to being able to solve problems.

Learn how to program is in fact learning how to formalize a large problem, think about it in a structured way, and if the problem is too large as a whole, divide it into manageable parts, that solve parts and together solve the problem as a whole. Additionally an individual that has learned how to program also learned about importance of precision of instructions.

Being able to do this, and being able to think about systems and processes in a structured way is helpful in a lot of disciplines beside tech industry.

Therefore it also doesn't matter how children or young adults learn to code, this is more a question about how to get someones motivation and focus.

And especially this is not about getting a job in tech industry. Learning this type of problem solving (which is not exclusive to programming) and thinking about systems etc. will help you with/in most of the jobs out there, e.g. kitchen chef, event/wedding planner, car mechanic, musician,... you name it - even if you don't write a line of code anymore in your life.