[cube13]

>I agree with your short list of goals for students new to programming. Language should not matter for learning the basics of programming and Computer Science concepts. That being said, certain languages do make exploratory programming much easier than others:

Pretty much. What really needs to be taught is that programming languages are tools. There are pros and cons to every language, so the best language for the concepts being taught should be used. A student that's come out of a good CS curriculum won't be a great programmer immediately after graduating. However, they'll have all the tools that they need to learn how to become a great programmer.