The first is that SICP is one of the most influential, well-written and essential textbooks written for computer science. This is especially true now, as most undergraduate students do not know what functional programming is or what it is good for.
The second is that I think the major appeal most people have to python is that it feels very 'natural' to program in, after years of slugging it out in the other languages. But going with the best-case scenario is dishonest and not always best way to approach teaching.
As an aside, when Lisp was introduced in my first year introduction course, it was described as slow, old and unused. There was no mention of modern Lisp dialects or any other functional language for that matter.
The first is that SICP is one of the most influential, well-written and essential textbooks written for computer science. This is especially true now, as most undergraduate students do not know what functional programming is or what it is good for.
The second is that I think the major appeal most people have to python is that it feels very 'natural' to program in, after years of slugging it out in the other languages. But going with the best-case scenario is dishonest and not always best way to approach teaching.
As an aside, when Lisp was introduced in my first year introduction course, it was described as slow, old and unused. There was no mention of modern Lisp dialects or any other functional language for that matter.