I don't know if it is generally a good idea to use C++ as a tool to teach people about data structures. In universities data structures are normally taught as abstract constructs free of any concrete implementation. They are basically just ideas that have proved themselves time and again. Letting people learn about them by implementing them in a programming language and at the same time breaking good practices of said programming language isn't really a good idea. It might give the students a false impression that it is the standard way of doing things because they don't regard the language as a mere facility for learning but as part of what they might be able to use in the future.
Don't get me wrong, the book you mentioned teaches very well about the data structures it covers, you just mustn't consider it as teaching standard programming practices at the same time. If you ask me, it isn't a good idea to try to teach too many things at once, and it must be made clear what is trying to be taught in a book so that readers don't get the wrong impression they have learnt more than the author intended to teach.
That being said, as Nexus already said, you need to learn from modern books, and more importantly, teachers who are up to date regarding advances in the language. When browsing through C++ books in book stores that claim to have added material about C++11 features, I am not surprised to find them lacking in so many ways. What many people misunderstand is that C++11 is not merely an extension to the existing language, it is a whole new mindset with its own takes on old ideas. As such, merely revising an old book to include modern C++ topics is normally ill-fated. A true book adequately covering modern C++ has to be written from the ground up to take the new ideas into account. This is also the reason why many prominent authors have yet to publish their books, everything has to be rewritten almost from scratch.
The books you might have used while learning C++ from said author are very likely to be written quite a while ago, and only minor revisions have been made since then. They might have been perfectly valid back when they were initially published, but by no means should one consider themselves up to speed regarding the programming language just because the latest edition was published not so long ago.
And regarding the teaching methodology you mentioned: A very very common mistake teachers make is to prohibit their students from using standard language facilities/libraries to get whatever it is they want done. Using C++ to teach about data structures while prohibiting students from using the STL and having to resort to raw pointers is not the way to go. If it has to be that low level, they can at least use C as the programming language instead of C++, that way it would be natural to do what would be done synthetically in C++.
It used to be the case that the first few topics covered in C and C++ lessons were almost identical, C++ at its conception was also referred to as C with classes. As time passed, new ideas were brought into C++ that fundamentally changed the way things are done, and it is important that beginners understand this. Nowadays, with C++11 the differences in ideology are so huge that people who still program using C++98 habits are closer to C than C++. If you asked me to attempt to teach someone C++ 15 years ago and to teach someone C++ today, I would probably have totally different approaches for each situation.
All in all, I find the topic of teaching C++, especially modern C++ a very hard task. I would never trust myself into trying to teach C++ because I know there are still some concepts I don't yet fully grasp. Not only that, but since I would strive to teach things that are not that productive at first glance, it might make for a really boring lesson and I don't think it would be very appealing. Teachers really need to be used as a supplementary to a good book. They can never be as thorough as a book is unless the lessons stretch over a long period of time, and to be honest, these days people don't want to invest that much time into learning how to program any ways. I had experience teaching younger students basic programming concepts at school and the main problem was that they were very result-driven. They were only interested in topics that would yield meaningful results in the short term. I've since then come to consider programming in general more of an art or science rather than a tool to get things done, although that is their main purpose.
Everybody is new to C++ at some point, the question is, how long will it take to no longer be new to C++? And more importantly, when the language changes, does it make everyone a beginner once more? I know I am.
