"Novelty is overrated when it comes to learning."

I'm still trying to understand what this means.

I must admit to being aesthetically offended by any dismissal of novelty, but this is clearly an emotional reaction and I recognize that.

I agree that making an implementation of an existing thing can be a useful way to learn about it's structure. I really don't think that novelty and original work (i.e. a hacking exploit and it's writeup) are opposed to the previous sentence.

What does it mean to oppose novelty and learning?