Are we brainwashed?

Since kindergarten, in every class we have had, we have commenced by listening to the teacher tell us what to do. So what do we do when a different situation is thrown at us? Starting our sociology class with utter silence was this situation. There was no teacher telling us what to do. We did not know what to do. But why? Why do we not know how to react to a situation like this? As some would see it, it is because we have been brainwashed. As we have gotten older, we have learned to cooperate with the norms of our society. Our society and everyone in it has molded our idea of normal since we were kids. Now, when we are put into a new situation, we do not know how to react. We have been "brainwashed" to live in the presence of noise, and that silence is "akward". Here is an example. I was at a lunch table with a couple of your friends and four our five people I did not know. My friends went to buy lunch and I was alone with these people. Becasue we have never seen each other before we did not know what to talk about so there was silence. Now, we felt akward or weird. The only reason we feel like this is becasue we have been brainwashed to think that silence is akward. What are some other situations where this occurs? Why do we give into these norms instead of breaking out of our everyday preconceptions?