Now that you mention it, I do love Rodney in 'teacher' mode, where he bashes his student's idiocy, but I do think he likes people to understand things, and he cares about his team.

Yes! And I also detected an undercurrent (possibly merely my interpretation) of Rodney feeling a need to protect both Sheppard and Ronon from the repercussions that could result from casual mentions of military sexual "improprieties."