Former instructor here. I've been guilty of occasionally interjecting my opinion on topics outside of the subject. In retrospect, I should have kept some of my thoughts to myself. But it's so tempting when you're given a platform. Sometimes what you want to tell them isn't what they want to hear. Sometimes the point you're making is relevant even if it's politically incorrect. Many times you try telling them things that they simply don't have the life/work experience to absorb. They just can't hear what you're saying. When teaching concept art for entertainment design, I had students illustrate fairy tales or myths, only change the time period and location of the story. I never forced students to change the gender or orientation of their characters, but a handful did so anyway. Many of them jumped at the chance to make their characters gay. I let them write and illustrate the story that they wanted. It was so hard to try to get them to paint males to look masculine and females to look feminine. Some of them wanted to make their characters sexually ambiguous. I found it hard to comment on the limited commercial appeal in their work if they took the criticism too personally. Consciously and unconsciously, a lot of them let their issues creep into their work. I could really only criticize the technical aspects of their painting. Looking back I was probably harder on the men than I was on the women because I felt that they could take harsh feedback better. I feel I graded fairly, but during critiques, I felt I could worry less about hurting men's feelings. Individually, you could sense students who you could be blunt and direct with, and students who might potentially cry. I never intentionally made someone cry, but it's happened. It's easier to reassure women who cry than it is men. Admittedly, when a man cries, I have to fight the urge to say, "Get your shit together bro," and leave it at that. But I find that when people do cry, it's more because they have other issues going on in their lives and less to do with the class. I did my best to treat them the way I would want to be treated if I were a student. Overall, I sensed that the people who were more comfortable with who they were, and had a clear definition of themselves, regardless of gender/orientation, produced better work than people who were trying to sort themselves out. And I could say that about all the classes I taught, not just this particular one. People who were comfortable with themselves simply had a clearer visual voice.