Don't these guys realize that even out in the real world there are large numbers of programmers who aren't computer scientists. They have code running in production as we sit here and debate the merits of teaching children what will become an essential skill in the future. I work with people who will never need to recall from memory how to write a quicksort yet they've been collecting paychecks as developers for years. I can never understand the backlash against teaching people something. Aren't we all for abstraction and encapsulation? You don't hear doctors complaining that people are learning how to eat healthy but not learning how all their internal organs work.
There are large numbers of practicing (mechanical, electrical, etc.) engineers who aren't physicists. But you have to be up on your physics in order to work as an engineer.
In my observation, engineers tend to forget their math and physics pretty quickly after getting out of school. Many are proud of it. Most of the work of an entry level engineer is CAD, troubleshooting, and bureaucracy.
