The existence of low, rounded vowels

In class today, my German teacher told us that there's no such thing as low,
rounded vowels. Yet, I seem to be able to produce such (remember that thread
on the "OE" sound?), and they do occur in my vowel charts (two ones to be
exact - the front "OE" sound and [Q]).

Now, is there anyone who's got an idea as to why the teacher 'd say that
these vowels don't exist? Apart from they being uncommon? Is there, for
instance, a tendency that they're not quite as low as [a] and [A] (so you
could described them as "almost low" or something like that)?

                                                     Andreas

PS When I did try to imitate my paternal grandparents' "low oe" sound
(something I'm not good at), the teacher in question claimed it to be about
as front as [a] and about as low as [{], (by pointing at a vowel quadragon).

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