Taking 'em one at a time...
"There are obviously lots of experts here on photo gear, but as a person who is fairly new to photography - and hence, quite close temporally to where the original poster currently is - I've found that a manual film camera is the best way to learn about exposure and composition. The beauty of these cameras is that you're down to the very basics of photography: no matrix metering, no autofocus, no cropping and no stack of how-to books on photoshop."
I learned on fully manual film cameras. When I started learning there was no other option.
But I learned a lot, a tremendous amount, when I got my first digital. I could see improvements pretty much daily. The ability to shoot and see (on the monitor - not the LCD) is a tremendous tool.
A few questions:
1. Didn't the original poster say that he/she was interested in possibly taking a photography course? Most college photo courses I've seen require you to have a film camera (preferably a manual one). They also usually include darkroom modules. It would be pretty embarrassing if everybody else showed up to the darkroom with negative film and our friend here arrived with a compact flash card...
Many photography schools/classes have already switched to digital. It's fairly common to encounter a post from someone asking for the best equipment for their school.
I'm sure that there are some film hold-outs. One should check before enrolling.
2. What serious photographer doesn't have an old manual camera kicking around that he/she pulls out every so often to just get back to basics? As I said, I'm no expert, but every pro I've met has an old manual camera kicking about: when I ask them about these cameras, their eyes light up...
Not me. I gave my film SLRs away. I was not shooting them, or interested in shooting them. Nor was I interested in scanning another frame of film (after scanning ~ 12,000).
My eyes light up when someone starts about farming with horses. Nice old memories. But I ain't going back there.
3. At a $100, where is the harm in suggesting that he/she invest in an old manual camera? Of course, our lives would be complete if all our bags were filled with Mk IIs, M7s and F6s, but let's try to remember that this person is a BEGINNER to photography, not a pro who makes a living out of it.
It's not $100. It's $100 plus film and developing. And slow turn-around which hampers the learning process.
IMHO the worst thing that a beginner should get is a film camera.
I harbour no hostility toward either autofocus or digital - I often shoot in digital myself - but I can't believe that I'm the only person here who gets a kick out of heading down to the photolab and picking up a freshly-developed set of prints. Somehow, downloading a CF card just ain't the same.
Don't know if you've discovered it yet but the photo lab will make prints from your memory card.
I harbor no hostility toward film. But I do get a bit annoyed at people who insist that the only way to learn something is to learn it the way they did.