The Relative Wisdom of Tough Love Pedagogy

Consider the following hypothetical:

I just wanted to respond to the Professor's contention that some of us jumped in to defend his teaching style after Anja's post. I can honestly say that I wasn't being toadying. I had never been to office hours in my entire college and law school career before today. I went to Moglen's because I thought I would get something useful out of it and not be bullshitted. I'm not sure whether this class couldn't be just as effective without the tough-love approach, but if its part of the package, its not a deal-breaker for me.