I think you're overestimating how hard it is to write "hello world" in C. If I had my K&R around I'd quote a page number by which a student would be ready, I bet it's pretty low.

And for Scheme, well, you just don't have a case. It can't possibly be easier to write a "hello world" than in scheme! You just fire up your interpreter and:

   guile> "Hello world."
   "Hello world."
[download]

Scheme is not only a bazillion times smaller than Perl, it's also faster to get started in, with less syntax and house-keeping to learn.

Ok, you've convinced me, Scheme is the perfect first language. Now if only I could go back in time and get started right...

-sam