I think you kinda have to learn the rules and prove you know them before you go wild breaking them.

That’s not always the case. Sometimes a writer is like Jimi Hendrix where there’s no need for elaborate theory backing them because they can just straight up fucking play. But it’s usually the case, and the overwhelming majority of teachers are teaching extremely usual people.

I remember in my one college-level creative writing class I had to read other people’s work and it read like an eight year old wrote it.