To satisfy my curiosity, the other day I finished up early and went to said school and paid my hard earned for a 3 circuit dual check on a 2 seat trainer.
After start-up I leaned the mixture, only to have it shoved back in to full rich and told that I must always taxi with rich mixture (I had been through the OP's manual as I was early for my booking, nothing there about it), I bit my lip and recited "serenity now" in my head.
Once in the run-up area I was told that it was very important that I turn into wind for cooling purposes. By this stage I had that familiar taste of copper in my mouth.
After take off I was asked "so... what sort of circuit is this?" I think he wasn't used to being in visual contact with the runway on downwind. I tried one his way and it had to be over 1.68nm out.
It is true-they do teach higher power, draggy approaches and try to mimic flying an ILS in a bug smasher. You would not make it into the field if the fan in front went quiet. I for one will not be back.