In article , Andy Burns
wrote:

I know that *I* would have a much poorer understanding of how computers
work if I hadn't cut my teeth with assembler (and BASIC) on 8 bit micros.

that doesn't give you a good understanding about modern processors,
which are far more complex than those 8-bit micros.

But it was a good foundation from where to keep up with progress to
newer processors, and higher level languages.

true, although it's not as relevant as you might think.

I just think if you chuck e.g. an rPi at a youngster today they won't
get the same understanding of it from logic gates upwards ...

that depends on what they do with it, although an arduino would be a
better choice.