There's some truth to this (as appalling as the notion is). While I'm teaching Python to my 7th grade nephew his school is having him 'program' in Powerpoint. As dismissive as I am of the notion, it does allow students to quickly get some stuff up on the screen and start being interactive.
Fortunately my nephew has taken to Python and is even starting to become a language snob "That looks like a stupid way to program".