It really bothers me that you even have to clarify something like this. Students should be skeptical of what they're being told. That doesn't make a student a smart ass - it makes them a critical thinker. Teachers who take offense when their "authority" is innocently questioned are doing a massive disservice to their students.
1) Those that want a response that they can consider. These are critical thinkers.
2) Those that don't care what the response is. These are smart asses.
In schools the latter are far more common, and far more likely to speak out
AI classes, by the way.
I'm also sure that a student who is one day asking a genuine question, is the next day beign a smart ass. I certainly used to do that.
Kids are terrible. When there's 30 of them in the room, half of them who don't want to be there, it's even worse.
It's not a productive reaction, and you grow out of it, but it's not a surprising one.
But they span on over 2500 years, with huge objective, quality and target audience differences.
I can appreciate Seneca and at the same time don't give much credit to Kant. You could reflect deep into To kill a Mockingbird and see Flaubert as dry and over hyped. And you should be able to say that in class without being threaten with a bad grade. Even if you were hypothetically wrong, if such an absolute is possible in this field.
I also was not being a smart ass. Many authors have additional writings that add color to the writing being studied.