I actually think that this is an interesting way to get people into programming. I don't think Javascript is sufficient for many applications, but it does serve a great purpose.
A lot of youth in the United States today aren't flocking to programming. We need more. And yet it's strange because programming as an industry is what afford young people the most opportunities. When was the last time you saw a major non programming company have core contributors < 30 years old? < 25 years old?
JS as a language, TextPad as an editor, and a Browser as a runtime environment is a far less intimidating barrier for students. People can see the results in a medium that's familiar to them (a browser). It's also free and readily available. No installs, no environment paths. nothing to discourage them. In conjuction with HTML, they can see how JS/programming changes what they're viewing. It will help bridge a lot of people's thoughts into "oh, wow, I can actually do this and it has a tangible effect". When growing up I was wondering how the hell a printout to a console would have any benefit to me. Yet, that's how I was taught (in C, C++)
It's also been difficult recently to find frontend engineers. Colleges don't train for this - it's all algorithms and abstract concepts that are great for backend developers. That's why there are so many more backend engineers out there than front end engineers. The FE side is under represented.
There are some arguments that this is a terrible first language because it's not as rigid as the others. But honestly if you can't learn a language and then apply the concepts and learn new ones to pick up new languages, you probably shouldn't be tackling those tougher languages in the first place.
With HTML5 apps coming down the pipeline, people WILL need to know JS and we as a technical industry will need to accept that they too are part of the product/output of science/tech/web/mobile. Some people won't be diving in more beyond that, but if they do, they at least have a foundation to build off of as they get into more robust languages.
JS gets people in the door, and it's not going to preclude others from picking up other first languages. It's a solid step for bringing more people into the fold. It's not going to be the best for theory, but there are places and time for that.