Honest question - why? How getting more people into automation business will benefit people who are in it now (us), or the economy (arguably automation makes jobs and whole industries redundant). I am all for encouraging people to study science and mathematics, but I don't understand the value of getting more people to just "code".
Large, skilled populations bring great advances. In a world with hundreds of programmers, you get FORTRAN and specialized computers solving defense problems. In a world with hundreds of thousands, you get everything from smartphones and video games to industrial robots.
I'm not worried about job security. But I am excited about what armies of coders can invent.
People should be educated enough to know what they can expect from a computer - by learning coding they would get a deeper view into those things - not everyone would become a professional coder. And even then, every good professional create even more jobs - you can't do everything by yourself even if you know how too.
Also it is for greater good - I think it is a step to happier society with more decent life.
