I've heard far too many cs profs/TAs proclaim that "you get it or you don't" -- that either students come in with some innate ability to program, or they're a lost cause whose role in life is to bring down the cost of education for those worthy of it. Y'know, curmudgeons like Dijkstra. My response to this is generally that one can teach, or they can't, and that blaming the student is intellectual laziness. Also that they probably got their job on research talent and not teaching ability.

I was the same way with math. Stank at it 'til the context was right.