Would you rather have been taught by Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Galileo, etc. or their teachers?
Yes, but many times the offspring will exceed it parent's accomplishments and many times the student will excel above the teacher. Just because so and so was a student of a certain person does not mean they may not be able to teach others just well or possibly even better.
And all of the above had teachers as well. They certainly exceeded the teachers. Stephen Hawking would be another great example of that in our own present time.
I was just on the phone with Newby yesterday and we sort of hit on this. I was trying to give him an example of how one agent might not be able to learn from one mentor, but will from another. Sometimes it's also timing that comes into play.