I do think there should be a safe environment where students can learn the theory without being overly concerned about practicalities - this could be the first year of the degree. More practical exposure after that would ensure that students are not intimidated by real things and doing real work - while the theory continues.

I guess here there is a problem with what the practical stuff might be - Java, .Net, T-SQL, Ruby on Rails, something less directly practical? My understanding is that Java is most common on undergrad courses, .Net is felt to be more sullied and 'vocational'. Still, as long as they stay away from PHP and Perl...