MIT dropping SICP/Scheme for Python conicided with the general decline of education as an end in itself. Python is the VHS of computer languages. I couldn't believe it when I heard MIT dropped a language renowned for its elegant lambda implemenation in favour of a language in which lambdas were not only frowned upon but literally throttled. I think it says everything that MIT ditched Scheme and SICP at the same time as it would be near impossible to teach SICP with Python.