Self-Esteem Building, Huh?

So, we did a "self-esteem building exercise" in our Language Arts class in Teacher's College.  (Note, please that I refer to it as Teacher's College, rather than as the B.Ed. it is supposed to be, because, quite frankly, this program is not all that academically rigorous, and it is frustrating, to say the least.  To return to my story...)

So, the self-esteem building exercise consisted on taking a strip of paper, writing our name on it, and then passing it around the classroom for our colleagues to write one or two word comments on it regarding us.  The idea was that all of the comments had to be kind, and that everyone was supposed to comment on everyone else's. 

As a kid, who got bullied, I immediately saw the issue with this, but the teacher insisted that as a classroom teacher, we would read over the slips, to determine whether or not they were done "properly" and "kindly" so that they could be presented to the students. 

I noticed that there was a discrepancy between the number of comments, and the length of comments on the slips of paper belonging to the more popular students, of which I am obviously not one. 

Here are the results of my slip of paper (dictionary definitions added by me, later):

outgoing - friendly and socially confident
compassionate - feeling or showing sympathy and concern for others
passionate - having , showing, or caused by strong feelings or beliefs
independent - free from outside control; not subject to another's authority; not influenced by others ; 
                        impartial; capable of thinking or acting for oneself:
pretty - (of a person, especially a woman or child) attractive in a delicate way without being truly beautiful
sensitive - having or displaying a quick and delicate appreciation of others' feelings;  
                 easily damaged, injured, or distressed by slight changes:
friendly - kind and pleasant;
nice - (of a person) good-natured; kind
great smile - "a great smile radiates warmth, joy and happiness, and draws others to you"
2 x caring - displaying kindness and concern for others
2 x strong - able to perform a specified action well; difficult to resist or defeat; exerting great force
2 x cool - informal fashionably attractive or impressive; showing no friendliness towards a person
                or enthusiasm for an idea or project:
2 x intelligent - having or showing intelligence, especially of a high level
5 x opinionated - characterized by conceited assertiveness and dogmatism 

So, opinionated, was not supposed to be a negative word?  Did my colleagues mean that I seem to ahve strongly held opinions?  Or do they not know the difference?  Or do they simply think that it is acceptable to say things like this since the whole business is anonymous anyhow?

In reality, though, there is a greaet discrepancy between the facts as they stand, and the reality of teaching, and dealing with kids, and I'm getting tired of watching social justice stuff fall by the wayside, and special ed stuff just get thrown out.

What I'm dealing with here, is a variation of the wierd ostracism that I faced as a gifted kid all along.  I am challenging the teachers on stuff that I really genuinely want to know, and every time that I actually get engaged with a lesson, or find something that I care about, or am interested in, or want to know about, it is:

a) tangential to the lesson/course
b) outside the necessary coursework, and would require further study
c) often outside of the professor's realm of knowledge/experience
d)irritating to the other students, and the professor
e) incomprehensible to at least some other students (professor?) 
f) necessary to my continued engagement in the material

So, that's where I'm at.  I need these answers in order to remain engaged.  Otherwise I play solitaire or pocket frogs, and might as well have stayed home.  In the process, I disrupt the learning process, and the whole train of "normal" for everyone else.