This is a valid point, but on the other hand we don't seem to have solved the problem of deciding the sweet spot of language features that are the best on-ramp

This is a valid point, but on the other hand we don't seem to have solved the problem of deciding the sweet spot of language features that are the best on-ramp for kids to get into coding. For my money, we'd actually be better off if kids were still learning BASIC, for all its faults. I don't know Lua too well, but maybe that's best in breed. Don't even get me started on Python >:(. One of the tensions is "make it learner-friendly" vs "align it with languages they're likely to use as professionals", aka "don't teach bad habits", but IMO this is grossly inflated as an issue because (a) many of these kids will not become programmers anyway, (b) they certainly won't if their learner languages put them right off by being full of counter-intuitive gubbins, and (c) the idea that learning BASIC, or Cobol, or whatever, fundamentally ruins your brain for "proper" programming is a manifest nonsense anyway.