writes:

Lemme see: People have been building flying machines since the late
1800's, about 125 years now, and none of them have been interested
enough in the phenomenon of lift to do the physics?

The physics seems simpler than it is, and the explanation of the physics
depends hugely on one's frame of reference.

However, the practical reality is simple: an airfoil with an angle of attack
greater than zero and less than the critical (stall) angle will produce lift.
This is completely reliable, and it's all a pilot needs to know (although,
oddly enough, many pilots don't know this).

Many of the contributors here have been flying much longer
than you have likely been alive and have studied this in detail, and
some of them might even have doctorates in the subject.

See above.

We run into this attitude rather
frequently in the flight training industry. It tends to make the
student unteachable.

Students only need to know about the angle of attack, if theory is required.
Or you can simply teach them by rote, which is even easier albeit somewhat
less safe.