Skipping Classes: Surely the reason that ab initio students are taught airspeed with elevator is because one normally starts flight training on single engined aircraft and hence there is a requirement to learn a technique which will work also for a forced landing with an engine failure. In this situation clearly point and power does not work.
Hence the emphasis in the early days of flying on the glide approach.
To broaden the arguement to discuss heavy jets/swept wings etc. is irrelevant. Both methods clearly work however if I was sending a student off on his first solo I would like to think that he was properly trained to handle an engine out landing.