For context, MIT's previous EECS curriculum began with 4 required courses for all EE and CS majors. This meant that EEs had to suffer through Scheme, and CS'ers had to suffer through circuits. I'm sure everyone has their own opinion on whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.
Regardless, the EECS department switched to a new 7(?) "core" class format in which students choose 4(?), giving students the freedom to take more relevant courses to their interests/major. In this switch, 6.001 (scheme) was out and replaced with a more hands-on robotics-based Python lab class.
I can't really say which approach is better, but I do think there's an important place for the more pure "thinking" computer science classes too, even if it's not the first class taught to freshmen.