I would point to the creation of Hack, Flow, and TypeScript, as well as the addition of type annotations in Python as being indicators that big projects are the things that benefit most from static type checking. Python is a "scripting language" as are JavaScript and PHP. They should be used for writing scripts, not large applications. Large applications, written by teams, are exactly where static type checking is most essential.

Do you have links for the definitions you prefer for "strict" and "loose" typing? It isn't clear to me is you are using these terms for strong/weak typing, which seem to be better defined.

I will also note that I think people need to learn multiple languages covering many styles and paradigms. They question is, where to start that gives students the best learning experiences and sets the foundation for learning other languages later on.