[schwartzworld]

It's a life skill like reading and writing. There used to be a time when most people couldn't write except for minority, many of whom did it professionally. Most people sit in front of a computer for work, and many do repetitive tasks that could be offloaded to simple scripts.

It's hard to explain to someone who can't code how it would make their lives better, as I assume it once would have been difficult to explain to a farmer the value of reading, but there are societal benefits to everybody knowing how to read. We can post public information like highway exits and store hours and "beware of dog" signs and know that the majority of people will be able to read them.