re: Is Scott Phillips (American Woodworker) preventing new wood workers from learning proper Joinery ?

Yep I agree that pocket screws have been around for a long time Mike,but the older pieces you find with pocket screws were production pieces back then and are on the lower end of collectables,not $100,000 items that sell at auction and to be fair most antiques don’t bring that much anyway.
Thanks for the nice comments Sheri,you might look into Charles Neil’s “Mastering Woodworking” it’s fairly inexpensive and Charles is a great teacher.
http://www.cn-woodworking.com/join-mastering-woodworking/