I think the main value of contrarian thinking comes from building up better understanding of the world by being wrong a lot and then forcibly changing your mind

I think the main value of contrarian thinking comes from building up better understanding of the world by being wrong a lot and then forcibly changing your mind through arguments. If you are a contrarian throughout school and college and assumes most things they teach are wrong until you are sufficiently convinced you come out much better than someone who just accepted everything at face value simply because now you ingrained the difference between correct, uncertain and false deep into your mind. Just being a contrarian without doing all the work required to become a good contrarian wont get you any awards, you will just be wrong a lot.