I went to high school back in the 90s, in US, and yes, we did have computer science education in high school back then. The hard-looking part was C++ programming. I did some programming in BASIC at the time, and C++ kinda scared me off. I ended up taking a Multimedia class (learning about computer workflows of professional TV studios, how they prep footage for broadcast on TV).
In college, the hard part was not the math, but automation of version control.
One thing that's still flabbergasting to me is 'Kernel Debugging Boot Camp for kids' stuff that I sometimes see announcements about. As if there's crowds of pre-teen kids who actually know enough about the Linux kernel and can not only spot a bug after staring at a screenful of code for less than 3 minutes, but also know how to fix it , as in type in a correction, make sure it compiles, make sure the problem is actually solved, make sure it does not introduce new bugs in the process, create a diff patch, submit it to camp counselor... I once followed up on such a camp's results - and they said that they 'quashed nearly 300 bugs' after a week.
