As for me, I learned a lot of the concepts quicker and got more things done in Python than in Java. Why can't schools change the curriculum?
They will, with time. Colleges are slowly moving to Python instead of Java. With time, so will employers and the AP's. Then, slowly, schools will.
This is one thing you learn painfully as you get older - there are a million changes that should happen now, in a perfect world. In the world we live in, change happens slowly - money needs to be allocated to hire new teachers, which takes time, new teachers need to be interviewed and hired, which takes time. Old teachers need to be trained, which takes time, etc. A new teacher has to prove herself as being competent before a high school introduces a new curriculum only she knows, because they don't want to invest developing tests/homework problems/syllabi that will be useless if that teacher quits/gets pregnant/gets hit by a bus.
Java isn't so bad, it definitely has it's place, once you "get it" - it's great for creating concrete specs and controlling large numbers of developers (some of whom may be of intermediate quality). Try working with a crappy code base in Python, JavaScript, or Ruby, and you'll be ready to pull your hair out in a week.
If you're serious about programming and programming languages, though, forget about learning a thing in high school, work for the grades (if that's your style), and learn things on your own. Don't do it to show off to your friends - they're an inexplicably minute fraction of the world at large - impressing them is like a minnow trying to impress his puddle. There will be a lot of people much smarter than you if you get into a good college.
Save up your lunch money for these books, and get through as much of them as you can before grad school (or work):
They will, with time. Colleges are slowly moving to Python instead of Java. With time, so will employers and the AP's. Then, slowly, schools will.
This is one thing you learn painfully as you get older - there are a million changes that should happen now, in a perfect world. In the world we live in, change happens slowly - money needs to be allocated to hire new teachers, which takes time, new teachers need to be interviewed and hired, which takes time. Old teachers need to be trained, which takes time, etc. A new teacher has to prove herself as being competent before a high school introduces a new curriculum only she knows, because they don't want to invest developing tests/homework problems/syllabi that will be useless if that teacher quits/gets pregnant/gets hit by a bus.
Java isn't so bad, it definitely has it's place, once you "get it" - it's great for creating concrete specs and controlling large numbers of developers (some of whom may be of intermediate quality). Try working with a crappy code base in Python, JavaScript, or Ruby, and you'll be ready to pull your hair out in a week.
If you're serious about programming and programming languages, though, forget about learning a thing in high school, work for the grades (if that's your style), and learn things on your own. Don't do it to show off to your friends - they're an inexplicably minute fraction of the world at large - impressing them is like a minnow trying to impress his puddle. There will be a lot of people much smarter than you if you get into a good college.
Save up your lunch money for these books, and get through as much of them as you can before grad school (or work):
http://www.amazon.com/Compilers-Principles-Techniques-Tools-... http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/ http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Algorithms-Thomas-H-Corme... http://aima.cs.berkeley.edu/
That gives you 5 or 6 years, not nearly enough to really get these things, so make time. And... GO!
PS. consider it a big step in the right direction when you "get" Lisp.