why teach silent films at film school?

Because they are going to become popular once again now that the Artist was such a success. Why are silent movies better?
First, screenwriters should appreciate how they will never have to worry about actors forgetting their lines, or improvising them beyond recognition. In silent films, a lot of the words are spoken, but not heard, and often displayed on the actual screen to be read by viewers. Perhaps that is how stories were initially intended. Next on the list of pros would be a showcase of music, where composers will undoubtedly rejoice at the chance to have center stage. Uninterrupted scores will enhance the dramatic effect of a story, and take the viewer to the next level of a cinematic experience as they get caught up in the emotion.

because silent films are "purely cinematic" - all the story is told via moving pictures, with "special effects" limited to visual trickery as opposed to computer graphics.

no film is more boring than a talkie where they spend time saying what they should be showing (see atlas shrugged, part 1 for an example).

unless it's the basil exposition character from austin powers, of course. :)

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To teach you how to tell a story. So when you're slaving over some music video as an assistant, maybe you'll have some idea of what you're doing when you get the opportunity to actually direct.

"Nobody throws me my own guns and says run. Nobody."

If you can't see how studying films made under the contraints of not being able to record sound will help you as a filmmaker then I feel sorry for you.

Hitchcock and Kurosawa both made a ton of silent films and were massively influenced by the medium.

Well obviously they have a lot of historical value, like you said. Until the first talkies came out in the late 1920s, literally EVERY MOVIE was a silent film.

But even beyond that, watching silent films you can see the early stages of shot composition, lighting, set design, etc. You can learn a lot about visual filmmaking from watching silents. It's film at its most basic level: using images to tell a story. Lots of the best movies from any era have long segments without any dialogue, where the visuals and the acting completely take over the storytelling.

In fact, it could be interesting to try an experiment, since you're wanting to do movies: make a short silent film. That would really test your visual vocabulary, in a way that could help you appreciate the great silents better.