Yes, I agree.
In my experience, having studied both, there is a very big difference in the approach to teaching and learning a Traditional Chinese martial art, and learning kenpo.
In kenpo, everything is very clearly defined. All aspects of a technique are explained, how to do it, what the positioning is, what you are doing with every movement, what the results should be, etc. It can be very detailed and useful. But it can also create a sort of "tunnel vision", where the student is unable to recognize alternative uses for the same technique. Material can get kind of pidgeon-holed, and this creates a need for a vast body of techniques to counter every conceiveable attack.
In the TCMA, the movements are a bit more abstract, which opens the door to a wider range of interpretation, and recognition that the same, or similar movements, can be effectively applied under numerous, and widely varied, circumstances. One is able to get more mileage out of a smaller body of knowledge. It also assumes a greater responsibility on the part of the student, for his own training. The student needs to keep at it, and not expect knowledge to be handed to him on a silver platter, or in a Western style lecture.
The problem is, it takes work and effort on the part of the student to learn the form, then study it and begin to understand how it can be useful. If you never make this effort, then the form will not have much practical use. But if you make the effort, you might realize dozens of different ways that you can use the same movements in very effective ways. You can spend a lifetime studying one form, and find that it can meet all of your needs in fighting.
I think these two methods clearly represent examples of the difference in mindset between East and West. Kenpo is very West, with clear instruction, details, lecture-style passing on of information. It can be very useful very quickly, but might create some shortcomings down the road, if the individual sticks too close to "the book".
Wushu/kung-fu is very East, more responsibility on the shoulders of the student to learn for himself. It is slower and perhaps more frustrating in the beginning, but if one perseveres and sticks with it, the long term results can perhaps be greater.