I am certainly much more on the newer spectrum than some other posters, but I will say that I like the "class" environment.
I think that matches improved me as a shooter more than classes, and also that the classes helped to create the foundational knowledge that I could build on.
I've always liked school. The shooting of a match is more fun than the shooting of a class, but there is much more shooting that gets to happen in a class. It's nice to get a full weekend, day, or half-day (admiring those people who have the 3-day/week-long classes) doing nothing but shooting and manipulating the gun.
It's nice to get a new project out of the gunsmith's and to see what it's really like, to burn in the new muscle memory and to have some meaningful round count through the thing, performing to some 3rd parties' objective standards in front of fellow members of the community.
I do also like the sense of community, and while that's absolutely present in the matches as well, it's a nice feeling to experience a mutual and simultaneous common level skill in gunhandling and marksmanship.
Sustained focus, camaraderie, round count, and the desire to achieve certain standards is where I find the value proposition of technical shooting classes. Matches are cheaper, and matches have probably done more to improve my skill level, but I view the two as complementary more than as competitors for my time and money.