The more college classes I take, the more I've come to realize that they're for people that could give a fuck about reading and understanding for themselves. Don't get me wrong, I love story time as much as the next fella, but it is a sobering experience to sit in the middle of a room full of people that refuse to analyze and digest a simple story on their own without the professor telling them exactly what they should have gleaned from the writing. And, no, I don't believe that most people are idiots-- though that would make me feel better and ease my mind-- I believe it stems from a deep-rooted fear of being wrong, as though an opinion could be incorrect, I think it is because of our absolutist system of education that we currently utilize; the answer on the test will be a very particular answer, regardless of any feelings you may have on the subject, so why would you risk your grade (possibly your whole future) on being wrong or cluttering up your brain with things that won't help you answer the test questions?
When there are real consequences of having differing opinions that may effect your ability to graduate-- let alone pass the class-- students are made into regurgitation machines that espouse any rhetoric that has been presented to them without so much as a second thought as to whether or not they themselves hold the same ideologies, etc., it's all for the grade and be damned with my thoughts and autonomy!