Hey Judd,
I don't approve of the guys here saying "do as the instructor says" to get through your course smoothly, what I am saying is:
Don't just carry the attitude, I've always done it this way, I want to go on like this...
There is a lot your instructor can show you, new things, that feel uncomfortable in the beginning, but make sense, when you get used to them.
As in your case, you have always flown an HSI, and call the other information superfluous (spelling?!). There is lots of information on the map mode, you might want to use. Or you are just lazy, as Iam, and all the info you need is on one screen, the PFD. The glideslope information is coming from the same source (on A320, A340, CRJ) anyways, it doesn't give you redundancy to show it twice on the screens...
Maybe something new is to be discovered by new techniques you have never thought of before.
Nic