Programming as a second language

I am starting to think that we need to add or replace 1-2 classes in high school with some sort of programming language elective. Just as people take Spanish or French as a second language, we should encourage people to take programming as a second language. Not getting into the debate about which language, programming is starting to become essential for most workers. I am not talking about developing some huge software product, but even little things like adding some scripting to making a grocery list or some other common task.