Yes, it does seem odd. Perhaps the professor just doesnt want to move to a newer version. 7.2 is used quite frequently in webserver applications (though I dont know if it is because it was better or because its just been installed, and no one wants to take down their servers to upgrade).
Although, if he is teaching yall CLI stuff, it shouldnt matter, the command prompt hasnt changed much at all
By the way, there is no more Red Hat. It is now Fedora, Red Hat stopped supporting and producing their free product. Fedora is pretty much the same thing though. I actually installed it on an old machine last night, it works pretty well.