I have taught a college engineering course in Mechanics a number of times. After some simple 2-dimensional problems using trigonometry, I do the same types of problems using vectors. It is not uncommon for a student to pipe up and suggest that I am “making it harder than it needs to be”. Well, yes, if the world were limited to 2 dimensions, that would probably be true. As soon as we extend to 3 dimensions they usually see the usefulness of a vector approach.
LEARNING the various methods is a different thing than later choosing whatever of those methods one finds easiest for a particular problem. The process is important, not the 15.