There's a pretty big difference between learning how to write programs in an operating-system environment with interactive debugging and trying to write low-level hardware-banging code, and I don't think too many kids will be open to learning the latter before they've figured out the former. And while Windows or Linux are certainly more commonly used, neither one is something that a grade-school student just getting their feet wet would ever have any hope of understanding. Something simpler and more easily comprehended is definitely called for, and while I don't know if RISC OS is it, it's certainly a hell of a lot closer.
Also, the moment you start talking about putting the kibosh on learning things that don't "apply directly in the real world," you've abandoned real education for the churning out of factory and office drones (the thing that currently characterizes the American school system, which as you may have heard, sucks.) The hell with that.
Kids seem to be getting along just fine these days with python on windows, linux and macs. Python is the new basic. It's amazing what they have access to and can accomplish. I cut my teeth on a Vic-20, moved onto a c64 and then the amiga. Eventually learned C and assembler on a 386. All I ever wanted to code when I was a kid was graphics stuff. Not surprising, graphics code is instant gratification. On those old systems it was damn hard to do anything impressive. That was my motivation to learn C and assembler as a kid. Life would have been a hell of a lot more fun if I had Python, SDL and OpenGL when I was a kid not to mention Javascript.
I can't imagine in this day and age foisting RISC OS on a kid as some kind of educational endevour. Forcing them to slog through all that ancient esoteric crap would be sure to loose their attention. The only people who really think that's a good idea are middle aged nerds pining for the olden days shaking their fists up in the air about how things ain't as simple as they used to be.
And yes, stuff that can be used in the real world matters. Give a guy a tool he can use in the environment he lives in and stuff gets built. Give a guy a tool he can't use in the environment he lives in and nothing will ever be accomplished.
And as far as the educational system in the USA goes, it's not that bad. The problem is the parents who expect the government to turn their kids into successful people while barely lifting a finger themselves.
