Real programmers can write assembly code in any language.
It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.
My duty as a teacher is to train educate future programmers.
Few companies that installed computers to reduce the employment of clerks have realized their expectations... They now need more and more expensive clerks even though they call them 'operators' or 'programmers.'
I think the thing to remember though the next time you hear someone who is really certain that he is on the side of the angels is that the idea of angels was created by human beings who are famous for being frequently untrustworthy and occasional.