The problem is not that you can't do this in Python, but that this is out of place in a Python course (you don't use linked lists in Python, for example). SICP

The problem is not that you can't do this in Python, but that this is out of place in a Python course (you don't use linked lists in Python, for example). SICP shows that you need only a very small number of primitives to get a full programming language. You don't get this elegance with Python. This may not be important if you teach programming to people who want use programming languages, but it is important for people who want to advance the state of the art in programming (i.e. CS students). Maybe it's better if you teach Scheme in a seperate class class for CS students.