fiction - How to make the reader "accept" absurdity?

A few examples of what I refer to as ridiculous scenes:

A psychic gives the protagonist a business letter with only her name - no phone, no address - saying that there's no need to call her. She's the one who make the calls.

The Wind-up Bird Chronicles, Haruki Murakami

The protagonist finds a passage in a building that takes you right into John Malkovich's head.

Being John Malkovich, Charlie Kaufman

An old man goes to the protagonist's audition, saying that he has being following the protagonist his whole life. Then he says to him, "Hire me, if you want to know who you truly are."

Synecdoche New York - Charlie Kaufman

So as you can see these are ridiculous situations (I think the term is Kafkaesque?).

I tried that myself. In my story, my protagonist is researching about the subject of animal suicide. She goes to her university's Animal Behavior Class but is told by her teacher that animal suicide in an inappropriate subject, not suitable for a classroom. A subject like war, terrorism, and genocide. A teacher won't say this in real life of course (this is an exaggeration of the follow-the-rules atmosphere of educational institutions).

Yet, my readers complained that the teacher sounded unrealistic, that no teacher would say stuff like that.

So I'm confused. Maybe it's because the scene is too short? Or because I didn't prepare the reader in the previous chapters? Get used to this absurdity? Or maybe it just depends on the audience?

Here's the scene is case you want to read it:

“Well.” I gulped air again. “I’m doing a research about animal suicide—and, uh, I thought animal behavior had a lot to do with it.”

The professor nodded, though his expression said, Now what do I do with this misfit? “Yes, animal suicide has indeed a lot to do with animal behavior. You’re very smart, Mrs. Lin. And I believe me, I’m very moved by your curiosity and enthusiasm. In fact, these are the qualities we value most in our students.” He rubbed the balding spot on the top his head. “However, suicide—even if it only involves animals—is a very delicate subject, like war, racism, terrorism, genocide. And therefore, not very suitable for a classroom. I hope you can understand that.”

I nodded, no longer sure what the conversation was about. Genocide?