Nice basic listing of the players, but I think the author didn't do the greatest job differentiating between straight nutballs -- like Draper's Six Californias idea which no one has ever been able to explain the benefits of -- versus people like Mark Zuckerberg who tried out an idea (charter schools) and have subsequently evolved it in interesting ways (web of support for poor kids). I also personally believe that these people TRULY DEEPLY believe that learning to use and ultimately make software is the single most important skill they can give to any child -- especially poor children.

This is a more nuanced and mature account of Zuckerberg's initiation into school reform:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/23/books/review/the-prize-by-dale-russakoff.html

Reading both articles, I agree with you that these people truly believe that teaching people to program is the greatest thing they can give people.

In a way they're right: There are very few poor programmers.

But in a way they're wrong: Software needs to be made with people with diverse backgrounds and an understanding of social science, art, and philosophy, not just people who go deep in tech at the expense of liberal arts.