hmm.. generally this could be a good idea, but message sending is most useful when initialising a number of receives ie:
[loadbang] | |; init-1 6 / |; init-2 symbol foo | |; init-3 -2 \
which is far more elegant than the the trigger/send replacement, especially with more fields..
i think its important for students to recognise that this feature of messaging has a role to play, rather than trying to veil its use. in my experience people will tend to use [send foo] more often when they start pd, then begin abbreviating to [s foo] before they appreciate the msg shorthand [; foo[. but you are right it is a little confusing for new users..
Also note that some objects, e.g. [qlist], positively depend on the message sending style. My students who wanted to use them have often wondered why we hadn't covered the two ways of sending more in depth.
Matt