>you can buy sockets for your chips that have decoupling caps built in.

    Those are not nearly as nice as they look at first glance. Look at
    the long leads on the cap!

I think you'll have to explain how to connect pin 8 to pin 16 of a typical
DIP using "leads" that are any shorter than that!

(this *is* why the newer generations of fast chips have moved the power pins
 to the center of the package.)

BillW