That endless dumbing down exercise, known as mindless risk control...
I count myself fortunate to have had a number of instructors over the years that have had the attitude, that it's better to face a slightly increased risk of bending something under controlled circumstances, than to face a completely unfamiliar situation when the poo goes through the prop for real. So practice forced landings, at least some of the time, went right to ground level on a farm road kept clear by arrangement (as I found out afterwards
) and short field landings most definitely required an understanding and application of back of drag curve flying, with 1.1VS being the desired mark.