Gotta word it differently. You worked really hard to carve a beautiful table out of wood and then somebody comes by and makes an exact clone of it in a few secs and leaves with it.
For me it really depends on who created the content. If it was some big company that has tons of money anyways, I’ll have no problem pirating it. But in case it’s created by an individual who worked hard for it I’d want to avoid pirating it.
If you’re gonna force the students to use Matlab, you gotta provide them with a license. If the teacher can’t convince the institution to get these licenses, they should provide a free alternative.