Wow, I guess I was fortunate. I had very supportive teachers throughout school and attended a college that encouraged women to be strong and independent.

I had the same problem throughout 12 years of Catholic school. It was so tragic I wrote a book about it. It was a school for the gifted in Brooklyn in the '50s. I could never stand listening to religiojus nonsense, so I would up with high grades in math and science but Ds in Religion. This caused me to miss getting into the tuituion-free NYC university system. I had to pay off college loans for years. Here's the book. True story. The National Problem in the subtitle is that religious zealots are determining who goes on to higher education and who has to drop out depending on their beliefs. That's why all congresspersons in the US govenment all happen to believe the creation account.

[amazon.com]

To confirm the point, the kid who sat next to me in freshman class went on to become major of NYC and even run for president. He wasn't that bright but told the brothers he wanted to be a brother also. They treated him like a prince.

Teachers at school did because I was dyslexic and my writing is terrible too. but I actually loved english at collage and we were all treated as equals. the teacher was quite eccentric but tought me in one year so much about words and I loved that too.

My university profressors encouraged all students to think for themselves, question everything and challenge them if a student felt the need to do so - precisely as anyone worthy of the title ought to do.

School, meanwhile, was a different matter - I was punished many times for daring to argue whenever I knew a teacher was wrong.