I'm not stupid either, and I can tell a response that's intended to please me from one that's sincere. My students are encouraged to tell me when I'm boring them and when something I'm doing in class just plain sucks.
You're missing the point of the question. I don't ask them to compare complexity against other languages they don't know. They were asked whether this was too complex for the class, judging against other subjects we've covered.
Some of my lessons have been too much for them. They've let me know. Others have moved too slowly, or not given them enough credit for being able to take new things on, they've let me know that, too. That evaluation is part of the class, we do it all the time. I experiment with the class, and they enjoy that since they know their feedback is part of what builds the class.
Rather, it appears you're inferring things that you'd like to infer about the class that support your feelings.
As to python, we'll be doing python in May for a short while, as well as C and ruby. And we will be rating each. We'll be re-implementing some things that we implement in Java in those other languages as a way of giving them a test drive, trying out not just the syntactic differences but the differences in approach to solving problems with the different languages. We'll also revisit LOGO (but not LISP, I've gotten clear messages from my students in the past that they don't find that productive to cover, though they appreciate me taking the time to describe it after we've done some LISP-ish things in LOGO.)
You also seem to think I teach Java as the be-all and end-all language. And that I presume it will be the only language they ever learn. In fact, I add a lot of humor to the class by poking fun at Java's problems (you know that humor helps learning, right?) While we spend the most class time with Java of any language (though we just started today), we've had lessons using assembly language, machine language, BASIC, and LOGO already this year, plus an extensive section using HTML. After we finish the section using Java, we'll add more languages as I said above.
OK, so you tell me, what is the hot language of 2019? I'm teaching learning processes, so that my students can learn whatever languages they want. I'm starting a fire under them so that they have enough of an interest to bother.
I am very serious about this. I teach these classes because I want to. I'm not filling time or filling checklists on an academic record. These aren't programming classes. These are general computer classes, which I'm trying to use to get students interested in taking programming classes when they move on to college, so I think you're misjudging my scope and the nature of the students.
The students in my class get good grades whether they agree with me or not. If they go along to get along, it will not get them a good grade, more likely the opposite. I don't need their agreement to stroke my ego. I've got work I've done in outer space as well as in a large fraction of the world's aircraft. I don't teach for egoboo, I teach because I want these kids to learn that they don't have to sit in front of a game console running a controller because that's all they're allowed to access in this world. I want them to learn to take things apart, turn them around, and build their own things. I don't like them being trapped outside the package, stuck behind the UI, cut off from tools.
The programming I teach isn't taught to learn how to create elegant algorithms or to discuss programming paradigms. It's taught as a practical method for putting tools in their hands and helping them make the transition from consumer to creator.
Focusing too heavily on what specific language is used at this level is unproductive. So long as the language used meets some basic constraints that many languages will meet.
I put on some additional constraints. For example, I want to teach a language that's used in the real world, not a packaged educational language licensed with a boxed learning program. I can't control what systems the students have at home. I want a language that works the same way at home as at school. I also want standard graphics and sound libraries since pictures and sounds motivate students as well as being useful to illustrate what's happening with data in programs. I have a number of constraints.
At this point, Java does the job. What I addressed was the assertion that Java is too complex to use in teaching beginners. Not whether there is no simpler language for expressing "Hello, world!"
Your estimate of how long it takes to cover anything, with meaning, in class is pretty optimistic. And as to what they need to know, and why they need to know it, I think you need to approach things from a higher perspective. The point here is not to simply teach mechanics of a particular language. What the computer is up to, why, and what the student can do to control it is the point, not how quickly we can get a few characters on the screen.