I wasn't aware that the waterfall was really a "method" at all, much less something that was taught. I thought it was an observation or model of the sequential

I wasn't aware that the waterfall was really a "method" at all, much less something that was taught. I thought it was an observation or model of the sequential process that tends to spring up once you have specialized groups within an organization. It's not exactly the absence of a development methodology, but the process (if not the term) predates the idea of development methodologies as a topic of concern.