"I wring out my instructor as much as he does me-at these prices I am not going to sit there like some nodding dog."
You are correct to do so, but why should you have to.
That is not personal responsibility - its not getting what you paid for.
A good instructor can tell you everything you need to know about obtaining NOTAMS and weather as the system currently stands in a one hour lecture.
So what happened to ground school?
So what happened to the personal responsibility of professional instructors who are willing to go on allowing PPLs to qualify without satisfactory ground school?