I disagree. I think MUI is one of the easiest to use, learn, and program GUI toolkit. Believe me, i've used a few of the widely used gadget kits, like GTK and QT, and others, and they are a nightmare compared to MUI. But if you need, there are even visual GUI builders available for MUI, but it's just so easy to build eyecandy GUI-s in MUI, you normally won't need such builders. And MUI is also Fast, with big F. Just compare the speed with eg. GTK2 on your Linux, and see. So I see no problems with MUI.

About the languages to use... Well, there are a few easy to learn languages on Amiga, such as AmigaE, or more PowerD, which has PPC support as well, and they are just great for small and medium sized projects. But i think, more important to learn how a CPU and general stuff works. For eg. if you learn what is a pointer, and how is it works, it's nearly no matter what language are you using, since pointers are the same everywhere.

Anyway, i generally like the idea about a beginner class, and mentors. I got many requests also about new Pegasos owners for programming infos, howtos and such, so collecting these infos is a good idea.