[Izkata]

Was about to reply to GP similarly, but after rereading it - I think they just expressed the sentiment badly. Note the single sentence they quoted in the reply - about teaching Maven.

Pretty sure they're reading "learn java" as "learn the language + the common build tools + more", instead of just the language, as we are.

Almost all beginners absolutely need to be taught the language first (so they have something concrete to mentally latch on to), not concepts and algorithms. However, Maven is not one of those things - either a GUI with a compile button or "javac" is sufficient at that level.