I get what he is saying, not everyone can or should be a programmer. But if you take 'learn to code' as a euphemism for learning how to build an excel spreadsheet properly, how to write a macro to automate your job, something like that, then, well learning to write a bit of code isn't a bad thing at all.

We all benefit when we learn a little bit about another profession, whether it is painting or plumbing, bricklaying or baking. In that context demystifying coding for the average person isn't a bad goal. Just to clue people in that tough solutions they have might be easily solved is a good thing. Getting people to wrap their heads around logical thinking is definitely a good thing.