I do agree and its one of the reasons my current research focuses on type-based languages instead. However, I think the issue is specific to your "when they actually want to build something" line - what does this mean? I agree and think this is where some of my reservations come from, but what exactly are we wanting kids to do with code outside of the structured lesson? Maybe they are doing them, but because its not this magical "everyone converts to coding" switch, we aren't seeing it.