Answers like this worry me, because it implies you believe that general principles can be taught without teaching basic facts or learning specific examples. Cor

Answers like this worry me, because it implies you believe that general principles can be taught without teaching basic facts or learning specific examples. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's generally agreed upon that it's easiest to learn a specific example first, then use that as a jumping off point to take on the more daunting task of learning general principles. Programming languages are a great example of this -- in an introductory programming class, you're going to learn to create programs in a specific language, using all the constructs necessary to do so. And after you have some experience and mastery with that language, you have something to compare and contrast other languages against. And it's that mastery that actually inspires (more than) a few to program for fun.