Hmmm. That's a good point. Maybe Codecombat's free levels followed by Learn Python the Hard Way to mix instant, visual feedback and fun with "more useful" material.
Shouldn't we celebrate that the U.S. is rich enough and stable enough that their students do not have to study for 14 hours a day in their prime of their youth to acquire a stable career? Why should we want to emulate East Asia's pressure cooker environment?
Pass the address of the block of memory to the constructor along with your other arguments and perhaps the length of the memory block (to assert that sizeof(block) >= sizeof(object)). Then use a C-style cast to cast the block of memory to your class. Construct the object like normal and return the address.