[Aheinemann]

coding in schools - possibly a mindless activity - clicking and shoving a mouse around in an excel spreadsheet or throwing together a website - without any understanding of what actually happens - might be what will be implemented when schools have coding sessions taught by teachers who struggle with the topic themselves.

on the other hand:

computer science at its core is the science of making a system go from one state to another using explicit transformations on the state of the system.

how to arrange these operations is computer science, to finalize them, write down the algorithm using operations in a codified form is - coding.

These codes are put down in a language - a programming language when using computers, a knitting pattern when making socks.

To learn how to sequence these operations, to convey the solution to a problem unambiguously in a language using elementary operations, building up a complex system from that and finally reaching the solution as a group of collaborators, taking pride in this achievement together...

I believe that there is great utility in that wherever a student may venture.