On the one hand, playing minecraft can be like playing with legos. I've seen my kids create amazing things in minecraft.
With some mods, it can also teach basic programming skills and simple electric circuits.
OTOH
It can be modded into a pvp shooter. Not the worst thing in the world, but it sort of kills the educational value of it. It is not a safe, walled environment because, you know, other players are coming to kill you. Moreover, even in other forms of minecraft other players can come and destroy your stuff. They can also yell at you and call you names and otherwise annoy you via the chat window.