The first thing I teach my students is how to mount a blade and how to cut a straight line. Part of that discussion is that most blades have a burr on the Right side as you are looking at it mounted in the saw. This bur is what causes the blade to pull to right. Also this burr will leave a rougher cut then the left side. For this reason I encourage then to cut counter clockwise or with the waste to the right. It is up to them to decide which direction they want to cut, but I encourage them to pick a direction to stick to. Some of the techniques I teach require then to turn the board so the teeth are on the waste side of the board. By cutting in a consistent direction, you always know which side the waste is!
