I went to a talk by cognitive psychologist Dan Ariely, and he very much agreed: said that he tried to get girls into computer science, in Israel they had a 6-week introductory course, and that class SUCKED at getting kids interested (actually negative effect).

Ariely said there are actually better ways to get people interested, which is to show them something meaningful.

https://www.pscp.tv/w/1yNGapZbZElKj (see minute 15 and ahead)