Stating that Fortran is better for teaching numerical linear algebra is like stating that Latin is better for teaching medicine.
Sure, it might be a better fit, but unless your students have all the time in the world, it doesn't seem very efficient to put your students through the extra burden of learning an unfamiliar syntax, development environment etc.
Modern Fortran is quite easy. It is learned overnight by most physics students. At this point, it is more a fast compiled DSL for numerical computations (like MATLAB but _much_ faster), than a universal programming language.
