I’ve seen this excuse in academia and in programming repeated over and over.
People just think they need to be born with it, and they can’t code or do well in school otherwise.
There’s something to be said about talent, but that’s when you’re thinking about how to be become the best programmer. Not in your community, but maybe the world. Talent plays a role there.
But, when it comes to a standarized curriculum, or a skillset that millions of other people have learned, it’s not about talent.
It can be about a lot of things — learning strategies, the right mix of mentors, learning syles, which are all fixable.