@BretCopeland yeah - I mean we don't know if the CFI got a "good talking-to" from the tower, but it should still be approached as a learning experience for the student.
I honestly don't think what he did was so horrendous. Unless they tell you where they want your base, you actually have quite a bit of discretion. Three miles is a bit much, but I honestly doubt the tower cared at all unless it screwed up other traffic. My guess is the CFI was listening to the frequency.
@BretCopeland that'd be my guess too. Though I honestly prefer the way the Republic controllers ask for reports (either a big obvious landmark like "inner shoreline" or "report entering downwind" - much less ambiguous)
@BretCopeland yeah, HFD asks for reports 5 miles out, so does westhampton (which really sucks because there are like no good landmarks)
I've actually had similar experiences to that guy when transitioning through the edge of westhampton's airspace where they'll ask me to report over something and as I'm flying through I realize "Yeah, I'm not getting that close"