> Modern programming is often so high-level and tool assisted that it is difficult for a newcomer to understand the difference between what they did and what the computer did.

I started programming long ago in a land fortunately very far away with Visual Basic---and this statement expresses one of the largest impediments to my understanding of systems.

I wholly agree that it's detrimental (and perhaps negligent on an instructor's part) until a time where the student has a firm understanding of the boilerplate.