>>37
It's not exactly just another programming language. It's the language to which everything is compiled to eventually, as the CPU can only run native code. Knowing assembly means you know the CPU and you're able to program the system at a lower level. It also gives you an understanding of the costs of various mid and high-level constructs encountered in mid/high-level languages.
While it might be a waste of effort to have your students study the entire x86 instruction set or something along those lines, having the student understand the base language of a CPU will help the student better understand higher level languages and their implementation. Not understanding the foundation on which the software world sits would only make someone confused about things.
On the other hand, I do agree that a separate course on assembly might not be that useful for most students, but a few lessons dedicated to it would be useful. Of course, if the student has read his SICP, he might not need such a course as SICP explains this quite nicely.