Gruff old professor explained that using H J K L was the True and Proper Way and the arrow keys were a work of the Devil, so to make sure we were not tempted by the Dark Lord of cursor motion, he had the department's system administrator recompile vi on the department's (pathetically overworked) Sun to remove support for the arrow keys.
(As an aside, if you've never tried working interactively on a Unix box whose load is higher than its CPU speed in MHz, you've really missed out.)
Rather than get used to using H J K L, I spent that evening waiting for a new vi executable to build in my home directory.
Laziness will find a way.
Doesn't sound like laziness as much as it sounds like the thinking of an obstinate youngster who secretly is uneasy with learning new things.