I agree with all the points made: Understanding the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ has significantly enriched my experience with darktable and has improved my output. It’s very important if you want to be able to use the tool well.
We do have to understand, though, that although this is all just secondary-school-level stuff to most of us, there are users who are put off by even this level of science and who will read all these explanations and decide that darktable isn’t for them. All the more if this is seen as a prerequisite to even starting to edit their photos. If this is what we’re saying then fine, let’s just be clear about that and point them in the direction of Adobe.
I’d hope, though, that by starting people with the basics and letting them see how quickly they can get good results, that might provide the motivation to try and understand it better, and perhaps make this subsequent learning curve seem less steep.
Edit: Perhaps I should have said something more like “While you’re starting out it’s ok to skip the science but once you’re comfortable with the basic (4 module) workflow it is important to understand the how and why in order to get the most out of the application”? The principle being learn a bit, do a bit, learn a bit, do a bit… so people can feel the progress they are making as they learn and that the learning curve is both less steep and more rewarding.