I never said don't do curls.
I said don't worry much about them until you have build a base of size and strength, which you do via squats, presses, rows, chins, etc. A set or two of curls (any kind) a couple of times a week will do the trick quite well until you step on a stage and a judge tells you to bring your biceps up.
Yes, you need to train to ensure you don't create imbalances or injury. However, I would dare say that if you are rowing enough to tear a bicep, you are probably at the point where you advanced enough to worry about specific training for them. If you add weight to basic lifts gradually over time (especially if you train those lifts frequently), you most likely won't have an issue. I've never met someone who tore a bicep doing barbell rows with 225 pounds (or 315 pounds, for that matter).
I disagree with you on your school of thought suggestions. If you are new, there is absolutley no reason to focus on isiolation work, and little reason to do much of it. If you look around, guys with big arms have what? Big benches, big rows, big squats, big deadlifts (again, assuming your definition of big is the same as mine - Brad Pitt in Fight Club was not 'big'). Yes, to go from 181/2 to 19 inch arms, you'll have to do some curls, most likely. But to go from 14 inches to 17, you really don't need to worry about them.
As i've said before, you need to worry about being all over small before you worry about a bodypart being small.
