That's how you start out, yes. If you have baking classes in school, I can imagine the first few years would be "okay, kids, this is how you make spaghetti/cake/omelettes/whatever, follow the instructions closely". But there'd come a point where you would be expected to start thinking for yourself and try some new things. And in Potions class that just doesn't seem to happen - Hermione with her slavish belief in the textbook remains the best of the class if you don't count Harry with his genius' advice.