Hey Geek,
I'd say when teaching a language they should show other languages that are quite closely related to each other. Example JS Node and JavaScript. It you have a good grasp of JavaScript then allegedly you can transfer this over to JS Node and it makes it easier.
I have a book on JS Node and I can understand some of it because of my exposure to JS (not went through the whole book though). Ruby (at a google search before posting this lol) Ruby comes in at number 8 on the hardest ones to learn.
Although looking at just creating the beginner "Hello World" here are some examples of different languages at a glance in the below link.
https://www.techcareerbooster.com/blog/c-java-ruby-python-javascript-hello-worldI think if you have a good teacher you can learn anything, but also you have to have the willingness to learn. Someone that has the patience and ability to communicate on all levels, like for even the thickest of brains (like me lol). I remember asking one of my lecturer's to speak to me like I was a child on more than one occasion and they done it for me without a second thought. The analogy they gave me helped me join the dots and I then understood what the meaning was. That helped me understand the complex nature of what I was reading and the instructions I was given. That person also said one thing. There is no such thing as a stupid question. I totally agree with that. We all have different levels of learning.
If one person in a class asked a question. Lecturer says that's a stupid question (bad response from the lecturer). How many other people in the same class had the same question but never had the guts to ask it because they though they might sound silly, then how does that affect the whole class going forward. That obviously doesn't just relate to a computer language class.
So I think any programming language is good to learn, it's who the teacher is in my humble opinion.
On one class I took for VB our lecturer said well you can just read it and go through the book and it will come to you. Not good. We were all helping each other to learn as the lecturer really couldn't be bothered. They were a really nice person to talk to though, but for that class they just couldn't be bothered doing any real teaching.
Thankfully we all banded together as a group and helped each other out and all managed to pass the final exam.
Cheers