[maxbond]

Is it possible they didn't believe you? Eg, they thought you had something particular in mind, and they wanted you to drop the pretence and make the expectations clear?

I've had limited teaching experience, all at a college level, but I would try to engage students with questions & get them to predict things they hadn't been taught yet. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it seemed like they wanted me to cut the crap and just tell them the answer, because they felt like I was setting them up to fail by asking them a question they didn't know (because it was new material).

I don't think it's necessarily a lack of critical thinking skills on their part as much as an unwillingness to engage with that style of teaching, which is fair. So I'm wondering if similarly it's an unwillingness to engage in independence in a context without the requisite trust, where they might be suspicious that you'll penalize them for picking "wrong" (regardless of whether that's the reality).