Context: A bunch of my students will be working with me (if all goes according to plan!!)to hack on/in CPython sources.
One of the things we would like to try is a framework for CS101 [Intro to programming]
So for example beginners get knocked out by None 'disappearing' from the prompt
Correctable by
>>> import sys
>>> sys.displayhook = print
Now of course one can say: "If you want that behavior, set it as you choose"
However at the stage that beginners are knocked down by such, setting up a pythonstartup file is a little premature.
So the idea (inspired by Scheme's racket) is to have a sequence of 'teachpacks'.
They are like concentric rings, the innermost one being the noob ring, the outermost one being standard python.
Now note that while the larger changes would in general be restrictions, ie subsetting standard python, they may not be easily settable in PYTHONSTARTUP.