Scheme

So I read an article on learning to program. It annoyed me. Here's a quote:

"My first class in computer programming was an elective course in BASIC back in sixth grade."

Wait what? A class? Why on earth take a class on programming? Just read a book like a normal child! I did.

"We were asked to [...] master the rules of syntax."
"I never wanted to take another computer course again."

Learning the syntax is kind of necessary to enable actually doing anything with the language. Granted, you don't have to learn it all at once but I doubt the author was really as interested as she tries to let on.

"my junior year in high school [...] We jumped right into the syntax of Pascal"
"Even after two years of studying Pascal, I still can't remember all the rules."

Again, what's with the classes? I learned Pascal on my own. Now I'm not calling the author dense, although I kind of want to. She apparently suffered from having terrible teachers which is not her fault. Try reading a book though!

The author goes on to say, that as a senior she willingly learned Scheme on her own out of interest. Suddenly everything was made clear to her and at long last she understood recursion etc.

In her opinion the differentiating factor was the amazing and awesome language Scheme. The way I see it, learning on her own out of interest, as opposed to rote memorization, finally enabled her to actually learn anything at all.

So now let's recap my own experience:

I learned BASIC and loved how it enabled me to create whatever I wanted. Then I learned Pascal and enjoyed the new found possibilities immensely. I then learned Assembly, again on my own, and it was like being handed a lightsaber.

After that I finally took a class. It was on C++, and since I already had a good base in programming born out of a burning interest, I actually enjoyed that too and learned a lot. Also the teacher was enthusiastic and amusing, so I later took another of his classes, this time on Lisp/Scheme, but I found the language really awkward and pretty much useless.

So which is it? Is Scheme awesome or awkward? Or is the real question whether you're better off learning on your own or at school? Yeah that's rhetorical, I don't really care what you think.