The government has announced plans to make computer programming a compulsory subject in primary schools. Supporters argue this will prepare children for a digital economy. Yet the specific programming languages taught today will likely be obsolete within a decade. The real value of education lies not in teaching particular skills but in developing fundamental capacities like logical reasoning and problem-solving. These capacities can be developed through many subjects, including mathematics, philosophy, and even Latin. Programming may happen to develop such skills, but so do many other subjects that we have now abandoned. What children need is not training in this year's fashionable technology but a broad education that develops adaptable minds. Simply adding programming to an already crowded curriculum, particularly at the expense of arts and humanities, mistakes vocational training for education.