high school programming & python

[Les Schaffer]

I am tutoring a high school kid in programming this semester -- he is
doing an independent study. i just got off the  phone with the teacher 
of the standard high school programming course.

its interesting.

they \quote use \unquote C++, having recently changed from pascal. but
they dont teach any class/object stuff. when i asked her how far they
get in the class, she said "up through arrays".

they dont do any graphical/GUI coding at all. 

i started to tell her about python and the darpa award. 

the problem, she said, is 2-fold.

1.) very few kids in the high school are interested in taking a
programming class. they are too busy taking classes which will qualify
them for admissions to college. so starting a new class or version of
the class is problematic when there is such low interest (numbers
wise)

2.) the AP tests which kids take, according to her, require for
advnace placement in a comp sci class that they know the basics of C++
up through objects. the question then is whether something like
learning/using python would enable a student still to place in the AP
tests if they desired.

i dont know whether these really are issues nationwide, but its what i 
ran into in one school nearby.

what are other peoeple's experience in this domain?

les
-- 
____        Les Schaffer              ___| --->> Engineering R&D <<---
Theoretical & Applied Mechanics          |  Designspring, Inc. 
Center for Radiophysics & Space Research |  http://www.designspring.com/
Cornell Univ.  schaffer at tam.cornell.edu  |  les at designspring.com