When he says old school,he's talking about the shape of the roller cam lobes. More specifically,he is talking about how fast the lifter is moved upward to max lift and downward from max lift. The faster we open and close the valves the more time the valve spends in the higher lift area of the came. This makes more power like adding duration would without the loss of low end power. It also creates more stress and requires more spring pressure to stop the lifter from bouncing. He's advocating the use of slower ramps and giving up the small amount of extra power that fast ramps produce in favor of longevity.
