I think Nim has strong potential in academia. There’s a reason why c/c++ used to be so common as introductory languages in school not even 10 years ago. They are two of the most popular languages but also the two languages that teach you about memory management, interfacing with hardware, etc.
However the syntax is atrocious for many beginners, and stdlibs are not always easy to use. This is why many students end up settling on interpreted languages for hobby work. Python is now actually the most popular introductory language largely for this reason. If students were introduced to a language like Nim instead, they would not have much reason to search for another language. You could teach everything from high level Big O to low level bit twiddling. Nim is the perfect language to teach with.
