go with what you know, and maybe suggest, if given the opportunity, that the quilt teacher open her mind to the many and various ways quilts get made.
there are NO absolutes in quilting, or in much else for that matter.
there are a thousand raging debates in your short list of do's and don'ts up there. what matters is that this is fun, satisfying and that your quilt doesn't dissolve into a heap of thread in the somewhat near future. or maybe in a post-modern kind of artsy way, a heap of thread formerly known as a quilt would make you smile.
it's your disco stick. shake it how you like
aileen