I still have my 4x5 Toyo View camera and Pentax spot meter from the days I was doing serious Zone system photography and using the Student Darkroom at the University of Wisconsin in the 70s. In those days you could pay 10.00 per month for unlimited use of their enlargers and chemicals. I still have a Schneider enlarging lens that I could barely afford at the time to use with the Bessler enlargers they had there.
I remember the planning that used to go into exposure to get the proper Zone range in the negative. That is before they removed so much silver from the negatives that it was hard to really do the proper development shift to get the
Zones right.
Agree with all that this basic understanding is still valuable. Because I didn't have access to Darkroom equipment as I was raising a family I left photography til the digital age has made it doable again and fun.
"It was the best of times, It was the worst of times".