[corolaelwis]

I'm sure teachers who discourage independent thinking exist.

Yes, I agree here.

But I agree too with "Teachers Are a Prison" where teacher and student, both, build up the jail. Some teachers love to have their followers, or his/her personal follower, that worship them as the embodiment of absolute truth and where any word spell by he/she is a revealed truth; frequently we found they surrounded by "students" that more than that are followers who need to be given the spoonfed knowledge.