I resonate with the article, though there are probably more precise ways to frame the phenomenon. It's not that students don't/can't understand the filesystem, but that it's not a central part of their mental model for working with a computing device. After all, it doesn't really need to be when I have an app-centric view of computing.

I teach an intro to networks once or twice a year with a heavy emphasis on Linux networking, and for the last three or four years, I've started the class with a brief primer on file system organization, home directories, and a few other topics that were never an issue for previous groups of students.

I don't think the main obstacle is conceptual as much as helping them understand that folder hierarchies, path variables, and related concepts are important details of the work so that they'll take the time to learn to use and navigate them effectively.

My brother is a HS student. I once listened in on an online class of his where students were asking the teacher their doubts. Indeed, many of his classmates don't understand directory structures.

Multiple kids also didn't understand the concept of a "zip" file because on windows explorer it opens like a normal folder, and windows hides file extentions by default, so it appears almost identical to a normal folder, but contained files (obviously) can't access other files in the zip file (which the kids mistook as a "folder").

I don't know how many students you deal with, or what their backgrounds are, but in my experience, absolutely the majority of students I deal with do not understand that the computer stores information in files, and those files can be in a hierarchical directory structure.

The article accurately reflects my experience.