Regarding the specific point of whether it is one's job to teach the electrical inspector..... It's sort of a mixed bag. On one hand, it is important that inspector learns he is mistaken so he doesn't cite others for the same thing (I think the vast majority of electricians don't know the code well enough and/or will just do what the inspector says). OTOH, yeah, it's not my job to train the electrical inspector. In a perfect world, I think the inspection agency/department should have a complaint form where the chief electrical inspector or whoever will address and resolve the misunderstanding (and of course it will actually get done and not just throw in a pile
).
Recently on a resi job, had an inspector comment that I could only have two NM cables going through a bored hole. I said no I can have up to nine current carrying conductors or generally four cables. He said no you have to derate after 2. I then tried to explain the de-rating process, the whole 90° thing...... He just said you can't use the 90-degree column. At that point I gave up, as he let the *violation" go anyway.