Programming is, in my view, one of these core areas. I hear many students express a distaste for programming. It's too abstract and technical and takes them away from what they actually like doing - creating images, telling stories, etc. Programming gets cast as uncreative, difficult drudgery. I can understand the resistance to learning another language, but it's a mistake to regard programming as uncreative.
Programming is fundamental to exploring the creative possibilities of interactive multimedia.
Refusing to program leaves you either just creating pretty pictures or relying upon other people's programming constructs. Just like any language, the only way to become any good at coding is through coding. You have to work at it on your own - set yourself problems, battle through the bugs, gain some fluency. Lingo may or may not be an important language to know when you enter the workforce, but it will at least teach you how to think like a programmer. There are plenty of different computer languages with all kinds of important differences, but there are all sorts of similarities as well.