Authoritative vs. Communal Acquisition of Knowledge

It was often in my classrooms that I would encounter tension between authoritative and communal acquisition of knowledge. While in the classroom, the authoritative source of information was the teacher. There would be no discussion, and what the teacher said was accepted as fact without question. However, when working on homework outside of the classroom, where self-study was necessary, a communal acquisition of knowledge was more present. Through discussion and debate, the techniques and solutions to problems would be obtained. Personally, this communal acquisition of knowledge much better suited me, as it was more involved and demanded more critical thinking. Though the conclusions we came to were not always correct, just by the process of critical discussion, I was able to gain more insight into the subject than through an authoritative source.