Simply adding "code" to the current grade school curriculum would change nothing, I'm afraid. Programming would be taught the same way that all of the other subjects are currently taught: memorize for the standardized test, then promptly forget. Maybe the subject will reach a few kids with the aptitude to be a programmer that wouldn't otherwise be exposed to it, but I think that most kids that would be interested in programming find their way there regardless. I got my introduction by creating games on my TI-83 while bored in class.
And frankly, if the rest of the world needs to learn programming in order to function in society, then we haven't done our jobs correctly. We create programs to automate tasks that we don't want to or can't solve manually, with the idea that people have other stuff they want to do.
And frankly, if the rest of the world needs to learn programming in order to function in society, then we haven't done our jobs correctly. We create programs to automate tasks that we don't want to or can't solve manually, with the idea that people have other stuff they want to do.