>>Things have changed since I was in high school. MegaMeyer (aka Dr. Meg Meyer, who got stuck with me for my first formal computer course when I was in high school) did a remarkable job of keeping a pretty bright class completely spellbound, teaching us about the guts of the PDP-8i and basic algorithms. We started day 1 with Macro8 assembly language...and learning to toggle in the paper tape loader on the front panel switches.
>
>You know Ed, the funny thing is, teaching kids this *same exact material* today would get them further toward understanding computers than what they do with them now. My 11 year old nephew (and his 8 year old sister) came over to our house when I was putting together a new machine, and they were both very interested.
>

I know. I have a 7 year old niece who got started early with Logo. By the time she's 11, she'll be ready to do some consulting...

I'm actually pretty pleased to see that the math curriculum at the school she's attending is starting kids early on some very basic, very learnable concepts like sets and basic logic as well as routine drill on arithmetic skills for kids who show any aptitude at all.