You're right. What matters is that explicit block markers are easier to learn (from the student's perspective). Being easier to teach (from the teacher's perspective) doesn't matter as much.
Sure, but without the white space defined blocks it is entirely on you to teach them about the importance of formatting their code to ensure readability.
My point was to express that your students need to learn to communicate with the programming language in a way that the language understands, not in a way that is comfortable for them as the “speaker”. You as the teacher should be setting that expectation.
