Glide or powered isnt an argument that can ever be won, too many opinions mostly based on folk lore. The aim of a PPL is to be able to fly to other destinations and at many airfields it just may not be appropriate to fly a glide approach.
As already stated, glide approaches stems from Tiger Moth days when a/c did not have flaps and engines were not so reliable.
What is more important is the ridiculous wide circuit patterns flown by some schools.