[fzingle]

This article about the state of general computer knowledge of university students might shed some light on things: https://www.theverge.com/22684730/students-file-folder-direc...

Not only do students come into university (and sometimes even into CS) not knowing what a file system is, many of them have a total lack of interest in learning what is perceived by them to be pointless.

I'd argue it is going to be pretty difficult to engage with any of those foundational topics if you aren't willing to engage with the basic metaphor of most operating systems, files and directories.