It's goal is to take great ideas over time and teach those ideas to new students of the field. And computer science as a field is more about the science of computing, than it is about programming. Generally programming is taught as a way to understand different manifestations of computing.

To answer your first question, pursuing a profession in programming doesn't require a CS degree. And it's probably only marginally beneficial to improving the quality of your work in _most_ programming jobs. I do think we can view programming as more of a vocational skill. There will be some jobs that require CS backgrounds, but for the most part it's a lot closer to writing in that there is a suitable job for almost every level of skill.