Code Monkey thats a pretty harsh comment to say. Hoewever i partially agree. The school system doesnt teach programming as well as you need to. I myself started programming around 11 or 12. IM now 15. The reason i learned QBasic or basic on my own tehn moved to java then c++ was becuase the school system doesnt get into true depth on it. My brother took it in school and his syntax sucks and ended up dropping it. Even more so most school in the New york area as i know are now dropping or have dropped the C++ language and are only teaching JAVA when c++ is a highly demanded job.
I SAY LEARN IT ON YOUR OWN IT HELPS MORE.