Yeah that definitely sounds right--at some point the brain will need to do the understanding as the paper won't. So I also agree that capturing more facets and

Yeah that definitely sounds right--at some point the brain will need to do the understanding as the paper won't. So I also agree that capturing more facets and the richness of thoughts is a much better goal than simply enhancing symbol-shunting. I suppose my idea could best fit in as either a transitionary model, or more likely as more of a replacement for the current method of teaching and learning derivations. In a sense just decreasing how bad the current worst case of teaching is rather than trying to increase the best case. Focusing on didactic rather than exploratory although I realise that both are possible with more expressive systems. No, don't worry you have not done any discouraging. I really appreciate all your thoughts on the matter and will definitely think more about what (or if) this should be. I currently don't have much time to work on it but definitely have time for some good mulling.