The last roll of Kodachrome was recently developed and it made the news. If you plan on going to a career in photo conservation the time spend shooting film and developing it and making prints is a worthwhile activity. If you are not making such plans the class makes as much sense as a computer class where they use punch cards and teach you to program in Cobal.
Hard to believe that there are so many Luddites in the teaching ranks. Digital photography is the best thing that every happened for teachers and students alike. In particular having the EXIF data for every shot to know exactly what setting were used, the point of focus, and color temp are invaluable. When I started out as a student I was using 4x5 sheet film and having to take notes on every picture taken which was a whole lot less. Fewer shots means fewer opportunities to experiment and fewer opportunities to learn.
I do underwater photography and whereas with film it might take several years to become a competent photographer, today with digital it can be accomplished in days. Some of what you learn will be useful in general but a lot of time will be wasted and opportunities to learn delayed by learning from a teacher still stuck on film.
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