there is a guy in my class who can draw very well, but his pieces are very kitsch and ugly: basically he just draws girls and monsters in photoshop and gives it a lengthy explanation (we tried to avoid him discussing his work at the beginning of class because he'd rant on for ages). one day a teacher got sick of it and silenced him with: 'you have great skills but no taste at all'
i've had some stupid teachers too. one teacher saying: "i don't like the hands on this, you should change it" one week, and saying "see? those hands are so much better already" the next week, even though i had completely forgotten to change anything about them.
a girl who would only draw fantasy stuff n graphite did an assignment on sketching: make a series that represent your environment. she made a series of pencil drawing of 'me to you-teddies':
a graphic design class had an assignment to create a vest for a ken-doll.
second year graphic design. a vest for a ken doll.
someone tried to get his master's degree by living in a shed for a year, scribbling all over sketchbooks, throwing it in a shopping trolley and cutting off his mustache.
and so on and so on!