i never said it is a universal thing, but it is infinitely more common than not, and that is what intro to tec and unfortunately cavern class is used for. It is anything but a myth however, your examples are very much exceptions to the rule. Most instructors in this country "suck" to use your term, which I wholeheartedly agree with. Intro to tec is the first course that most tec instructors teach, and since TDI has designed their course around people transitioning, they chose to not require AOW because from bad instructors, it just reinforces the bad skills. His shop is an exception to the rule because Matt holds very high standards from his instructors, the VAST majority of shops here don't, otherwise we wouldn't be having this discussion.
Our OW has all of the good stuff compiled into it, on top of unguided navigation courses in their OW and a mandatory ditch and don, but the AOW was spun out of the regular OW course to increase profits for dive shops and instructors, while allowing a watered down OW course to get more people certified in less time, is what it is.