Which is better dating or courtship?

I courted and it was great. Dating seems like a waste of time - it's so much easier to get to know someone as a friend *first*, and then if you decide you like them and a relationship would work, THEN you start courting. I don't understand why people jump right into a dating relationship with someone they don't know. WTH? That's an awful lot of pressure to deal with, because there's the expectation that they will act like a girlfriend or boyfriend is supposed to act, but they don't know one another yet. It's really weird. I much prefer the old-fashioned way because it makes a whole heck of a lot more sense than the way people do it now.