Great article.
It got me thinking...
From a very young age my dad always encouraged me to ask questions, to not just accept and follow blindly

I'm sure he wanted to kick himself when I questioned his parenting and disciplinary methods

New teachers didn't approve of me at first, they didn't like me correcting them, pointing out contradictions or asking too many questions. For some reason, as they got to know me (and my grades) most of them ended up liking me, and we got on well. When I was 10 the Principal called my father coz I refused to recite the Angelis (prayer to angels) or genuflect infront of a statue( Catholic school, I'm Presbyterian) she didn't appreciate me asking if genuflecting was akin to idolatory. Needless to say I was labeled insubordinate from Primary to High school. I even challenged our HS Principal in my senior year, but won't get into that
Some teachers openly threatened to fail me coz they thought I wasn't paying attention, I was mostly just bored out my mind... They didn't know that exam time was my favourite part of school

No offense to any Americans, but for once in my life I'm glad to be South African. Here we are not so quick to chemically castrate... I shudder to think what would've happened to me had I been American.