The illusion of Aldulthood

Today, I was lectured for asking to use the restroom during my first class of the day. This upset me for many reasons. One, I'm an AP student. What I mean by that is, college applications are coming up. At our age, we are faced with choices that will effect the rest of our lives, and yet I was being lectured about my irresponsible action of asking to use the restroom. Two, it was in an intro to art class. I understand that it would be ignorant to say that we can't learn anything from art, or that art is pointless. What im saying is that it is hard for me to respect a class where I'm being taught how to water color a tree. This led me to start thinking of questions that i often think about it throughout my day. We've been in school for three weeks and I find myself only being able to respect 2 out 5 of my teachers this year. I don't mean to sound arrogant or pretentious but I fail to look up to these people who have openly admitted that they never took AP classes or advance classes of any sort and were perfectly fine with having average grades. I'm not saying that grades are everything but its hard to relate to heavy coursework to someone who doesn't quite understand the situation. Three weeks in and I've honestly have not learn a single thing that I think will help me in life in those classes. At this point, I realize that I sound like the average teenager who thinks he knows it all. But in reality, this is what society has taught us to think about anyone who has spoken out. We are told to be confident with our selves, but not arrogant. We are told that it is good to be goal orientated but not too ambitious. That its good to want to be wealthy but don't let it control your life. That its okay to have different views, just don't express it. We are told to get as much education that we can, but don't talk down to others. I tried to express these views to my mom tonight, and she replied with, "You're just a kid and you are supposed to respect your elders". I understand the importance of respecting for elders but when is it okay to say I'm sorry but i think i know more on this subject than you do. I'm a 17 year old student in my senior year in high school and it seems that I'm being taught to fear intelligence because "I'm just a kid".