Actually, the opposite was true. Instead, Dr. Gelfond cared enough about us that he imparted to us the secret weapon to mastery: making mistakes. Wait, making mistakes is the opposite of what our mind tells us to do, right? Making mistakes is embarrassing. Mistakes tell the world that we don't understand a concept. However, making mistakes also provides a number of powerful tools that anyone interested in learning should be aware of.
First and foremost, when you make mistakes, especially publicly, you're going to feel like you're taking memory steroids. How so? When I think back to Dr. Gelfond's class I still remember every mistake I made when I was called in front of the class. The memories generated by making mistakes are so vivid that they can be recalled, even years later like mine. Now obviously simply remembering the mistakes by themselves would be pointless.
However, in addition to remembering what I did wrong, more importantly I remember what I had to do to correct my mistake. It's been over three years since I took that class, but I can still remember each of the key concepts that he taught us. And I can tell you from experience that I cannot say the same thing about all of the classes I've taken.
Another benefit to making mistakes is that they force you to learn. No one likes being wrong. So, assuming that you have a passion for knowledge, you can use the memory of making mistakes to help motivate you to learn a concept properly.