I agree with this in theory, but in practice the cheaper stuff is the more people buy (and throw away rather than fixing).

Ask and you shall receive, my friend. http://www.livescience.com/38078-pine-island-glacier-iceberg.html

Getting a CS degree generally requires you to do a lot of math so, yes, it is important. Things like analyzing algorithms, graphics, simulation, and pretty much anything involving AI requires a lot of advanced math. It's hard, but it can be fun and satisfying as well. And proving that you can master it (by getting a CS degree) shows employers that you can solve problems and should be able to tackle some really hard programming projects. That all being said, general business programming doesn't require a whole lot of math. You can write UIs, stick stuff in databases, and write business rules for 10 years and never do anything beyond some basic arithmetic. I've worked with a lot of people who don't have CS degrees. In fact I would say most don't have CS degrees. It might be harder to get a programming job without a CS degree, but if you work at it you'll eventually find one. After that experience pretty much trumps degree as you progress in your career. At least from what I've seen.

... that should do the trick. But seriously, find something cool to work on. Maybe a competition like robot soccer.

This is what I would do as well. I got all the way through college with a pretty mediocre understanding of programming. It was after college when I found a project that I was interested in building on my own that I really actually learned. Then when I went back for my graduate degree it was incredible how much more I got out of it. So if he could work on something interesting for a while he'd have a big head start on many of his classmates and might actually look forward to his programming classes because they'd start filling in some blanks for him.

On the plus side, all this tech would price the guns way out of most buyers' budgets.

Unfortunately I don't think you can call such a widely held belief extremist. CNN's article about this video references a Gallup Poll that found 46% of Americans believe "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so." I find this incredibly depressing.