Response to Shelby

Shelby asked a question regarding why we blame ourselves for not understanding something rather than the text/speaker

I think this typically occurs in situations where we are not particularly knowledgeable about a certain subject and the person or text teaching us is claimed to be a knowledgeable source on the topic. Then we are put into a position where if we decide to argue the validity of something, we ask ourselves, 'where do I get off?" We assume the source we are leaning from possesses more insight than we do, and so we are in no position to contest them - this is not to say I discourage such conduct. There is a marvelous quote by Eugene Deb that, "Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization." By all means, challenge the authority.
But there are certainly instances where I do not buy what I'm learning in class and fight the urge to speak out vehemently, because when I do I get shut down. Sometimes, the misunderstanding does not come from either the disciple or the teacher. Everyone learns differently - and this is fact. Some are visual learners, some are not. Thus, the problem lies in the conflict between teaching style and learning mechanism.