I remember taking auto shop in high school, starting at 15 (way back in the late 70's). I had a 67 Charger with a 318 LA, I popped the distributor out and took it to school on my bicycle just to learn how the distributor testing machine worked, I think it was a Sun brand, no idea what model. We had a brand new shop with all new tools and equipment, including state of the art valve grinding machines, alignment rack, top of the line engine analyzer, etc.
I tried to soak up as much as I could from our instructor, he had been a dealership mechanic for decades, mainly Chrysler and Ford, and was also certified by the RCMP to do high speed "test runs of" their highway pursuit vehicles. So much of what he had to share was unfortunately curtailed by the school's curriculum though he did still manage to keep most of us interested in learning, he was one of the first to swap a 351 Ford V8 into an early 1980's Ford Ranger pickup.
We eventually got 2 more instructors, both were strongly GM oriented, which I think helped me gain an appreciation of all brands. I learned a great deal of what I know today, but as the OP stated, there has been a definite shift from the "run what ya brung and hope it's enough" that I grew up with to the "how deep are your pockets?" mentality. I still like the old stuff, I've had modern muscle, and while they are definitely fun and fast, the feeling is so much different when you built it yourself.
Just my .02
