My only response to your witterings is to quote my old signature. "Please read all the words in my post, not just the ones you like and preferably in the same order as written."
English Professor my arse! I doubt you you could parse wind, let alone a complete sentence!
You can do exactly the same with digital, God knows why you think otherwise and far better too. Once of the best teaching aids is feedback and digital gives immediate feedback, so you can spot mistakes whilst you have time to correct them, unlike with film.
Or maybe it's still done because the old fogeys wearing courdroy and running the courses are as daft as you are.
Or still have rooms full of film kit.
Or film kit is there simply to give people the option.
Or for a historical perspective.
Lots of possible reasons. But I bet none do so for the reason you say.
What a surprise, jjj, that you've been embroiled in controversy here before. Weird.
Of course the oldest trick in the book is to accuse someone of twisting your words when that person doesn't agree with you. All someone has to do is re-read our posts... it's all right there. If someone’s life is actually that boring.
Be that as it may, apparently you can't enter into a debate without stumbling into little emoticon-filled hissy fits, and your tantrums are clouding your judgment. Alas..
My only point about "harder is better" was simply to argue the benefits of actually having to learn about basic photographic skills before getting so obsessed with what you do after the shot. It’s all about the context. The fewer impediments to that organic process, the better, because then the hard work of learning "visual awareness" can begin. And yes, of course you can check lighting, etc., with digital, but the point RSL has been making (I think it was RSL) is that doing this with digital isn't nearly as organic because there are so many more things standing between you and the actual image (as you yourself pointed out in one of your previous posts) than there ever was with film.
Take two inexperienced students of photography at some photography school and hand them each a box, one with a Pentax K10d and kit lens, the other with a Pentax LX and kit lens, and tell them that when their cameras are ready, to meet you outside for the first lesson. But then, what would the K-1000 person do for a few hours while the K10d person pulled everything out of the box and, after dealing with temporary vertigo, began the process of opening the 100-page manual to see where to begin, learn how to charge the battery, what cables went to what and where, etc., etc., etc. I guess go out and start shooting. Let’s assume the LX person has figured out how to turn the camera on, and after you've shown him where the aperture ring on the lens and shutter speed dial on the top deck are, you tell him to look through the viewfinder so that he can see how to over- or under-expose a shot. Of course, if we really wanted to start at the beginning, we'd have him shoot with no battery at all, but then, that isn't possible with the K10d. <sigh>
So let’s just skip to the actual lessons. Now, because this is about photography, which presumably involves learning how to take pictures, we have to tell the K10d person to switch the camera to "M." And turn the auto-focus off. And turn Raw capture on. And adjust white balance… —where’s that gray card anyway? But of course, to do that requires he’s learned about how the menus work. Oh bother...
Half an our later, K10d guy is finally ready. Well hang it all, alright, so we also have to teach him how to work the dials to adjust f/stop and shutter speed. But wait a minute... how will he know if the exposure is correct? So we tell him to look inside the viewfinder and we take him through a short course on how to interpret all the data flashing in front of his eyes. But of course, while we're doing this, LX guy is almost done with a roll of black and white, all the while adjusting his aperture and shutter dial and learning how that relates to exposure. And while he’s shooting, each time with a slightly different exposure setting, and because he’s not a Luddite, he records his settings into in his little pocket recorder stashed in his shirt pocket so that he doesn’t have to take his eyes off his work. And he goes through three rolls, all the while learning about composition, different lighting conditions, depth-of-field, etc.
Meanwhile, K10d guy has gotten his gray card, adjusted his white balance, and now he starts to shoot. But hold on… should we use a histogram, since that has its limitations? And how do you interpret the histogram? Just tell the student to ETTR? Well, anyway, after another short lesson in that, K10d guy starts to shoot, and wonder of wonders(!) because of modern technology, he pops off 500 shots in less than an hour! But dang it, now his battery is running low, so he’s going to have to take a break while it re-charges and in the meantime, he can peruse the Russian-novel length manual and… oh, you’ve got to be kidding? Now he has to learn how to use the photo-processing software that came with the camera?! Luckily, the instructor has Lightroom, which k10d guy installs illegally on his desktop, and after downloading the 500 RAW shots – another frustratingly long chunk of time – and then doing software installation, the instruction begins on how to use Lightroom. But talk about information overload! K10d guy’s brain is about to explode. My goodness, he never knew there were so many technical details! Can’t he just learn about the basics first, before going on to another lesson in software? After all, he hasn’t even had the chance to really see his pictures, except on a 3” digital screen, which hardly does it justice, and he wants to see what they look like printed out. The instructor gently placates k10d guy and assures him that all this technical stuff is for his benefit and convenience, and when he finally learns what he should, he promises k10d he’ll actually learn about how to do photography. So the Lightroom tutorial begins.
Back in the darkroom, LX guy has watched his instructor process and develop the film (oh, how he hates all those stinky chemicals. But that’s okay, since they’re listening to some great jazz and talking about the instructor’s photography experience) and now, an hour or so later, they’re holding the first roll of photos in their hands!
Hey, k10d guy says, I want to hold the pictures in my hands, too! Instructor tells him to settle down. That will come when they connect to the printer—assuming they have the right driver installed. In the meantime, patience, k10d guy. Patience. For now, look at all the ways you can manipulate your image… an infinite number of ways, in fact! But, k10d guy thinks to himself, I don’t want to manipulate the image… I just want to see what the image actually looked like.
All the while, LX guy and other instructor continue to talk about composition, lighting, DOF, shooting techniques, and while K10d guy was learning just how mechanical photography is, K-1000 guy was learning how fun photography could be. In the end, it seems, k10d guy just became enamored with all the fun ways he could doctor up his shot, while k-1000 guy had learned about the decisive moment and the patience and work involved in learning how to draw a picture with light… wait a minute, the student thought to himself. Isn’t that what photography actually means?
Months later, k10d guy was no longer k10d guy because he was no longer satisfied with the measly 10mp’s the camera could bring and just had, had, had to get the k20d 14mp behemoth. So he became k20d guy. But then the K-7 came along…
Meanwhile, k1000 guy was out shooting and learning more about actual photography. Oh yes, he did buy a Canon G10 for that instant gratification he craved from time to time, and he purchased a slide scanner so that he could email his chrome shots to friends, but whenever he had the itch to go out and shoot, he just grabbed his camera and went out the door. Meanwhile, k-7 guy (yes, he had succumbed—and taken out a second mortgage) was busy sitting in front of his computer screen screaming invective at some “old fogey” who dared to question his new lifestyle of mechanical photography and instant gratification and hours upon hours in a dark room (ironic, isn’t it?) sitting in front of a pixel screen making the skies just a little bluer, and the grass just a little greener, and… and… and…