Because that's the fundamental, distinctive, unique thing about computers. That's the reason we bother with computers in the first place. There's certainly not

Because that's the fundamental, distinctive, unique thing about computers. That's the reason we bother with computers in the first place. There's certainly nothing wrong with using a computer for other stuff, also. Or even exclusively, not everyone needs to be a programmer, that's for sure. I would argue, however, that algorithmic thinking/basic scripting is a very important piece of human knowledge, is it really more esoteric than Latin or Greek, which are routinely taught to high-school students? > For that matter I could equally argue that a pure front-end developer isn't really computer literate... There are different levels of literacy. A 7-year old and a PhD in English literature are both literate, but not at the same level. Same goes for computer-related knowledge, it's a bottomless pit, like any other interesting field.