@MikeBujak why are you calling it a "negative" value?
As an instructor you want to emphasize real world values of the skills, if they exist.
Mask clears and mask-off skills-you have to emphasize that at some point, there mask will leak, will fog, and/or will get kicked off. Since that is a thing, they have to be able to clear their mask comfortably as well as perform tasks without their mask on. There is no positive/negative value, it's just value or not.
Remove Replace BCD underwater has in its entirety has no real "value" because it's not something most divers should ever have to do. It shows comfort in the water, comfort with the gear, etc, but the "value" is that you may need to adjust part of your gear while diving and if you can remove the entire thing, you can work with parts of it individually.
Doing this skill at the surface has real world value because you may need to hand your gear up to a boat hand, or have it handed to you depending on the boat/surface conditions etc.