It seems as though my teacher is taking away the intelligence and putting it in the arts. Is this my imagination or is this always the case? Does anyone really have much info yet on how the whole schooling structure works yet?
When your V4 is a teen, you can choose what teacher you want. You can pick the intelligence teach, the fashion/arts teach and the kindness teach. It will show the intelligence teacher first and you have to press A to change him within 5 seconds or you're stuck with the intelligence teacher.
Sounds like you picked the art/fashion teacher instead of the intelligence teach. If this is the case, you're stuck with that teacher, and I suggest you play the Shape game to gain back your intelligence lead.