I say, wrong. That's not how it should be taught. Well, actually, concentration on algorithms is good, but AFAICT, it's only algorithms there.

Part of the reason Computer Science is such a great subject is that it combines theory with practice in such an easy and elegant manner. There's a reason I got into CS before I got into math - because CS (well, at the time, it was more like just Java than CS) gave me an opportunity to make something and see results. This type of response from a subject fosters creativity and interest, and overall makes the subject more motivating and interesting. If you only teach algorithms, all of this is lost.

Also, you've got to admit it, someone who knows all the standard algorithms but can't design one of their own or code/debug it is useless.