Programming is hard. There's no magic bullet. OOP is fine. Functional is fine. Procedural is fine. Every generation of programmers started with something different than the previous and turns out fine.
At the end of the day, every abstraction leaks so the student has to have a good working mental model of computing. And your first programming langauge does not dictate your career. You're expected to keep yourself up to date and have continue honing your craft.
At the end of the day, every abstraction leaks so the student has to have a good working mental model of computing. And your first programming langauge does not dictate your career. You're expected to keep yourself up to date and have continue honing your craft.