At my school we were taught an instrument (for a while, to see if it took), introduced to shopwork including welding, and taught Latin for several years.

That last one is less useful but I wouldn't compare it in any way to basic computer programming, which allows some insight into the running of the modern world.

Just saw an amazing comment about this over at the register - 'Democracy requires every person to understand the world to some degree. Computers are an important part of our world. So people need to have at least a general idea about how they work. They need to know what they do where their inherent limitations are.'