Think back to high-school. Do you remember Literature class? It was different from grammar. In what way? It was trying to demonstrate good writing. If you hated it, it's probably because you found the books boring. They should have been teaching you the Harry Potter books! Nevertheless, the principle was right: if you want to do something, see how the experts are doing it. If you want to skateboard, you can study the techniques step by step, but it also helps to watch great skateboarders. See how they use the techniques, and how they break the rules too.

If you want to build skyscrapers, you must study structural engineering, 3-D modelling, etc., To learn, you need to dive deeply into specific aspects of architecture. Yet, you also need to study the whole building. You should study and visit real buildings to see how other architects put their ideas into practice.

Babies learn language through exposure and immersion. Similarly, while learning about software, one must learn the language, but one should also look at the "literature'. One ought to look at real software, actively used in various projects to see how it was designed.

Perhaps there's some framework you love to use. It's useful to go behind the scenes and ask: how did they code this? what choices did they make and why? It's like studying the work of great artist, or a great author. Colleges ought to offer courses like this.

Won't this stifle creativity? Won't this encourage mindless aping? Yeah, it could. So, don't do that, :) The first rap-artist learnt language through exposure, yet came up with original cadence and lyrics.