Of course, Java with all its class-and-interface scaffolding adds too much accidental complexity too. It's not a matter of higher-level, it's a matter of verbose. Scheme is a high-level language but it's still "the hard way" in a very important sense.
"it is considered better to learn it the hardway[sic] first"
Blatantly false. For a certain narrow class of people, this is the best way to learn. There are hundreds of other ways, and some of the people who have a different preferred style would make great programmers.
"Colleges who have switched to Java for example are producing graduates that are having more difficult times in the "real world.""
Also blatantly false. CS programs have always churned out a lot of mediocre programmers, a handful of good ones, and a few brilliant ones. Only the language has changed.
That's why we learn Reimann Sums before we learn how to do the little tricks in calculus.
There has also been a lot of discussion lately about how higher level languages are "dumming down" programmers. Colleges who have switched to Java for example are producing graduates that are having more difficult times in the "real world."