BASIC used "=" for both assignment and equality tests long before Pascal existed and was more popular for teaching the youngest students even when Pascal was available, so I find the idea that the use of "=" for assignment is some kind of barrier that high school kids (or younger, even) are going to have a lot of problems with just as implausible as the idea that imperative mutation is such a problem.

It was before my time, but ALGOL used ":=" long before BASIC existed. The point is that academics have repeatedly not used "=" for assignment for successive new languages over many decades. Clearly they care, even if you do not.

Well yes, it's clear that repurposing '=' for assignment confuses or at least annoys many academics, no disputing that. But your earlier claim was that it confuses children, which it certainly does not. (Source: it didn't bother me in the slightest when I was learning Basic at age 11, or any of the other children I talked to about it.)

You have your personal annecdotes and I have my own. We will have to agree to disagree.