Here’s the first paragraph:
The Royal Society is to investigate why British schools are failing to interest children in information technology – and why numbers taking classes are falling so fast.
Well, duh!
There are two main reasons for this. The second one is that the dot-com era turned into a dot-bomb — you can no longer make a six-figure salary as a programmer even if you can’t write a simple for-loop, the way you could then with minimal luck. Most people find computer programming ridiculously boring, the only reason they’d do it is for a huge salary. Those are all but impossible to find these days, and require much-greater-than-average programming skill (and the ability to prove it by your reputation) to land.
But the primary reason is, it’s a school subject. That in itself says it’s going to be terminally tedious and boring, regardless of how interesting the subject matter itself may be. I’m one of the most computer-interested people I know, and have been since I was twelve — but thanks to a particularly authoritarian teacher named Mr. Boss (no kidding), the computer course at my school is one of the only two classes that I ever failed. (Oddly enough, the other was also taught by Mr. Boss. Imagine that.)
So, Royal Society, I suggest you start by investigating those reasons. I doubt you’ll need to look any further.