Hehehe...you're kidding right? Linux and Tanenbaum just DONT mix! Hahaha... I hope you get the irony ;)
i know the irony and the world famous flame war :-)
For a student they are the PERFECT mix, Operating System theory + a LIVE production kernel(which is also VERY well documented) to play around. Of course AST recommended playing with Minix(as it could be done within one semester :-)). Anyway the student's Freedom to choose.
Regards,
- vihan