I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “jumping through the hoops”. In all phases of life we have to meet certain criteria to reach a goal,please some person, whatever. So you have to listen to the person carefully and find out,sometimes through trial and error,what they want . It may seem arbitrary, but what choice do you have? If you write your side of a dispute, you still have to please the person by convincing them. You sound like you think you are the decision maker. There is a huge disconnect here with reality. They do encourage independent thought in university,but dont get carried away. The professor still has to make the decisions. I have 4 degrees so I think I get it.