I've been taught in secondary schools in the UK and France and the differences in teaching were interesting. This is a few years back. While questions weren't discouraged at any point, there was definitely a hint of attitude from the teachers of "How dare you question what i'm teaching you, we only have an hour and I need to rush through the syllabus because we're already way behind because I've lost 20 minutes trying to get you little shits to sit still and pay attention".

In the UK it was particularly brutal for teachers at times where teachers would have breakdowns on a daily basis trying to do their jobs. The French school had a lot more control over its students, however the conditions that we were working in was nothing short of anti-social and led me to depression.

Once I reached A Level and Undergrad things were entirely different because teachers actually could teach without having to deal with disruptions constantly so there was much more one to one time and encouragement for questioning. Especially in university, I was constantly being told that in order to achieve the highest marks one would have to not just cite others research but to explore it and give their own opinions and reasons and even carry out your own primary research.

Going from that university environment back to an environment such as at home or the workplace where you have people who have been taught and living by the code of ranks and eldership to which if you dare ask a question it is treated as a personal attack on the individual is frustrating to say the least.

That's my own experience, but from hearing from teachers teaching at the moment I hear that the attitudes of students has changed. If you weren't actively causing mayhem for the teacher then you were considered odd. But from I hear that has now changed to where students are way more polite and respectful and this is more acceptable to fit in, but kids are still very socially reserved and afraid of sounding stupid to their peers.

I only finished uni last year and it's one of the main things I noticed was so many students lack of confidence to even engage in a dialogue. In any lecture, workshop, seminar it would always be the same few students who would take advantage of asking questions. There were plenty of students asking other students how to do things, but professors would have to work really hard to make them feel comfortable enough to ask a question. You're paying hundreds by the hour for a seminar yet because everyone is too afraid to sound stupid the seminar is an hour of silence.