In school (public school in Canada) I was forced to play soccer (among other sports), learn a musical instrument (participation in the school band was not optional), and code (a required course had an HTML&#x2F;JS component).  I also learned chess because, why the hell not?<p>I quite enjoyed the experience of public school, and I like to think all the extra things they forced us to do made me a more rounded person.  Because they were required, the cost was also subsidized, as I came from a low-income family I likely wouldn&#x27;t have been able to do many of those activities outside of school.<p>Anyhow, as far as &#x27;coding&#x27; specifically, I do think a few basic courses in school, in an easy to learn language with a fun&#x2F;easy game engine would be great.  Say Ruby or Python (or even something like Scratch).  I do think schools should still focus on the basics though, maths&#x2F;sciences&#x2F;humanities&#x2F;languages, the rest is just to create well-rounded people.