Living teaching is def. more efficient/responsive than books. However, I also think that philologists can be prone to characterize language teaching as some sort of "sit at the foot of greatness" esoteric priesthood. Initiation with particular persons is not a valid form of intellectual authority.
I actually critique Egyptology this way at conference presentations. There's a subcultural malfunction among a subset of philologists, and it's profoundly anti-intellectual... They use these sorts of rationales to disguise training tradeoffs that have hindered needed linguistic research.
Oh don't get me wrong, I hate academia and think it mostly exists to control rather than generate knowledge, but I do think people who know their shit are necessary for learning.
Yeah, and in academia there can be abuse of power by mediocrities to hinder progress (like is mentioned in discussion of academic incivility/bullying).