Is Classroom Time Mostly A Waste Of Time In Cdl Training Programs?

I went to a school that offered 2 short courses that had little to no classroom time (and lots of time spent on the pad learning maneuvers) for those who had some experience driving trucks (like those upgrading from a class B to a class A license) and a class that offered an equal amount of classroom and pad time. I took the 22 week class that offered equal amount of class and pad time, and it paid off when I got to the company I worked for and with one of their trainers. My initial trainer after a week told me that I was one of the better (if not the best) trained "students" he had in a while, since I had a lot of knowledge already and he didn't have to go over basics like trip planning and HOS stuff and only had to help me work on fine tuning things like ally dock, company specific items, and dealing with shippers and receivers.