My school had a nice solution for this: split the already competent programmers off into an Honors class to learn something completely new (Haskell) and bring t

My school had a nice solution for this: split the already competent programmers off into an Honors class to learn something completely new (Haskell) and bring the beginners up to speed in Scheme. Both are challenged appropriately, and neither group makes the other feel stupid. The classes converge after the intro sequence and there is no real difference from there on out.