What students need to learn is proper pronunciation. The Romans did not use Macrons; they are symbols to help the language learner pronunciate words. Teacher can use macrons, or they can simply reinforce proper pronunciation in the classroom.
At Karen’s school, grammar school students memorise macrons as part of the vocabulary, like they did english spelling words in early grammar school. Teachers ease up on macrons after grammar school, especially when students are composing in Latin and macrons would slow them down.
Macrons can be crucial in some situations such as certain endings, so in those situations Marcus emphasises proper pronunciation. In most cases, he stays away from macrons so students don’t get bogged down. But macrons can be helpful to less experienced teachers who need the pronunciation help themselves.
When students are reading or writing Latin poetry, macrons are essential. But when they get to Latin prose, macrons are generally not included and students should be able to read without them.