While I agree with the premise that it is important to know C, I also agree with many of the comments here suggesting that there are other better first language

While I agree with the premise that it is important to know C, I also agree with many of the comments here suggesting that there are other better first languages out there. As a recent college grad ('15), my intro course was in Python and then the next course was in C. Python was easy to jump into--it usually just made sense and worked. While learning about loops, lists, strings, etc, that was useful. Equally useful was then moving to C and getting a better understanding of the "lower level" (especially in the sophomore computer systems course). But you don't have to understand caches, page tables, and threading to jump into a first programming class and master the principles.