Go with the flow:
You are at the most exciting point of your career, the early days of flying are something you will forever treasure.
You are also correct as to not slipping to correct for x/wind after take off, you will also find your landing approaches will be easier to manage if you crab to maintain the centre line until just prior to wheel contact, then just boot the thing straight with rudder and lower the wing with ailoren at the same time.
Remember it is your money you are spending so if you have a good instructor don't change. Unfortunately for aviation flight instructing has always been the vehicle for new pilots to build time and thus by default there are a lot of poor ones.
The answer on how to solve this situation lies in Instructor pay, if you pay peanuts you will get monkeys,,,sometimes,,,
I am not denegrating all instructors it is the system that needs fine tuning and the only sure way is to pay for truly qualified high time instructors, this will allow the schools to cull out the ones that do not meet a high standard.
Look at it from the students side. Wouldn't you rather pay twice as much per hour for a top notch instructor and learn it right in half the time?
As to the 10 foot down the runway with a 45 degree pitch out and a 315 Degree turn to reverse heading it is far from radical. Ask any crop duster they do it all day long, it is easier than flying a big circuit any day.
I must admit though that at your local airport it would create pure chaos if everyone in the circuit landed that way.
.............................................

The hardest thing about flying is knowing when to say no.