You're forgetting one incredibly important thing: Nobody wants to learn something useless. It doesn't matter how educational it is, if you can't make "real" programs in it, people will complain non-stop about having to put in the effort to learn something they can not use later on.
>>138
your comment about no student should be expected to be the intellectual peer of someone or other is short sighted. better by far to aim too high and fall short than to aim too low and never advance past success.
the best intellects in the world had to learn once upon a time; you'll never add to the pool if you go around preaching defeat before anyone even starts.