I have always had a logical and literal mind. My Dad was a computer programmer starting before I was born as a keypunch operator after WWII and retiring as a Senior Computer Systems Analyst in the late Seventies. That logical mind was handed down to me.
I had some bad situations in school when my teachers gave duplicitous instructions or statements. A kid mistrusts a teacher that will lie to them. I made "F's" through school because I didn't doing schoolwork. I failed Seventh grade and flunked out of College after the first semester.
I didn't turn around my poor study habits until I enlisted in the USAF and generally aced all of my exams in Basic Electronics, SETS tech schools and my later on with my CDC's with the help of my wife.
Teachers should should just teach content without any bewildering psychological new-age tricks.
“It is wrong for a teacher to attempt to trick students into a thought experiment..”
Just because you were admittedly too dimwitted to figure it out doesn’t make it wrong.
It was a great thing that in spite of Teacher conflicts and some low grades, you never gave up on yourself.
Finally, you found a situation better suited to your temperment and your natural skill set.