The professor who I thought was a distracted older lady was actually a wily teacher :)
So I just soldiered away over and over until I got something that worked. I remember building an RC car from a kit (Team Associated's RC10) when I was in 6th or 7th grade and not being able to finish one part. It took me a long time to ask my dad to take me to the hobby shop to get it fixed. It almost felt like a defeat.
Now that I'm older, I have no real sense of this. I'll just ask for help and see tough projects as naturally being team projects. I am glad I had these experiences as I tend to be more technically competent than my more social peers who learned these life lessons earlier.
On the flipside, I work with a guy in his 40s with this attitude. He has a "dont read documentation, don't ask for help, cant take direction" attitude and he's constantly struggling and he's a nightmare to work with. I guess some people don't outgrow this.
"the capacity of an entity ... to act in any given environment"
Some cultures and personalities encourage it, some strongly discourage it. The educational system and large corporate employers generally strongly discourage it.
Another thing that irks me about the Australian education system is how it's designed to create pacifists who aren't motivated to protect themselves. If another child in the playground hits you, you're meant to do nothing. That's not how to create a generation of people who can stand up for themselves.
My parents were very pissed off when they found out that's what I'd been taught at school. Sure, it makes life easier for teachers, but that's not the point of education. But it's probably a cultural thing, since my parents came from a country that was at war and that experience taught them how to protect themselves.