I was a Teaching Assistant for a photography course in college - at the time I shot for the yearbook (there were two of us) and did production work for the college daily. The teacher talked about composition, artistic expression, visual impact etc. We helped the students with the basic mechanics of shutter speed, aperture, (uh, ISO was "use tri-x"), exposure, developing and printing if they had any problems (not many did). It was actually a pretty good class because the instructor pushed them to think of photography as more than just taking snapshots.
As with most things, a poor instructor can make the subject seem like a chore to be disposed of as soon as possible, a good instructor can help you see things in novel ways, and a great instructor can inspire you to do things in novel ways.
As with most things, a poor instructor can make the subject seem like a chore to be disposed of as soon as possible, a good instructor can help you see things in novel ways, and a great instructor can inspire you to do things in novel ways.