It's regional thing too. Depending on the location, the startup's values places emphasis on different things. An NYC startup probably has more emphasis on 'smoke and mirrors', and has more of a market to capitalize your design skills for.
It's hard to learn to code, it's hard to teach kids, it's noble to help underserved kids, but the combination resulting in "Do YOU believe any kid can be the next Steve Jobs?" seems a bit off. It's probably just brand positioning and their underlying effort is to teach "new literacy" in the same vein as other non-profits combat illiteracy. I hope the program becomes popular though, it'd be nice if students can overcome the barrier to entry with the initial learning curve and get a feeling of what they can be starting on. This can help them start to learn outside of the school structure, which would make them better learners. This program is also an amusing contrast to the other new thread on Python Core Mentorships: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4240638
What are they coding in? What programs are they writing for? How does the program make sure the students continue to be interested after the program ends?
"A couple of years ago, I realized that I was not the material of which great artists are made and that I was rather glad I wasn't. And since then I have been happier simply to do the work and to take the reward at the end of every day that is given for a day of honest work." - John Steinbeck in August 1933
Perhaps the article is lazy with elaborating on its normative perspectives onto a mass. The primary danger is when normative behavior is hegemonic and enforced with a uniform acceptance on what a person/child should behave like.