At times like these, I feel it's appropriate to start rocking back and forth singing:

Life's a piece of shit
When you look at it
Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true.
You'll see it's all a show
Keep 'em laughing as you go
Just remember that the last laugh is on you.

And always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the right side of life...

That's true.

However, your last phrase is the one that worries me above all. "It just needs to be pointed out and used properly", is something I don't trust the Department of Education, or any public school, to be able to do.

I'm not saying that children are incapable of understanding certain parts of computer science. I'm saying that with the state of American education, I don't think the execution would go terribly well.

Look at the troubles we have with mathematics in this country. We learn the basic principles of math very early on, just like you mentioned learning about queues and resource sharing. However, the United States has relatively poor math skills. I fear the same would happen to C.S., especially if it's taught to a standardized test.

But then again, with the way my Physics teacher taught me, I might as well have been teaching me to by psychic. Would have made the same amount of sense to me.

I say no, and here's why: A lot of C.S. never made any sense to me, until I had a good grasp of language and mathematics. Knowing the state of American education, I'm guessing that means that the majority of kids will not be able to handle C.S. as a required course until they're well in to middle school, and most likely, a lot will not understand it until they're in high school.

(And yes, I know some people on Slashdot started coding when they were twelve. You're the exception to the rule.)

By that time, Computer Science is usually available as an elective, which is where I think it should be at. Making computer science an "integral"* part of American education seems like a nice idea. However, I doubt the practical application will yield anything useful, as most students will treat it as "just another subject", they have to grind through. The cynic in me says, "The majority of schools already fuck up Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, and Psychics already, why should we give them another area to piss on?"

On the other hand, I'm all for expanding computer science as an elective.

*Does anyone know what they mean by "integral"? Every time I've heard the word "integral" in education, it usually translates in to "Required". If it's not required, I'm much more for the idea.

Right?

Right.

I do almost exactly that. I carry around a 32GB flash drive and I run Portable Apps off of it. Since my work, school, and home computer all use Windows, I basically have the Desktop wherever I go. The only difference is that my home computer actually has Firefox, Open Office, etc. installed, as opposed to using the portable version.