It does sound like you were expecting a full Lisp and instead were greeted with one of the Beginner Languages, intended to teach first time programmers in a very structured way. See https://docs.racket-lang.org/drracket/htdp-langs.html
The example that you give is not an error in full Racket:
Welcome to DrRacket, version 6.12 [3m].
Language: racket, with debugging.
> (cons 'foo 'bar)
'(foo . bar)
Similarly, full Racket has multiple, powerful macro systems, and more besides, deliberately excluded from the Teaching Languages.
* * *
I'm not an academic, but the community and core Racket team are incredibly supportive, and any Comp Sci professor running into difficulties teaching a Racket-based course can easily access plenty of support and guidance, starting by contacting the user mailing list.
The example that you give is not an error in full Racket:
Similarly, full Racket has multiple, powerful macro systems, and more besides, deliberately excluded from the Teaching Languages.* * *
I'm not an academic, but the community and core Racket team are incredibly supportive, and any Comp Sci professor running into difficulties teaching a Racket-based course can easily access plenty of support and guidance, starting by contacting the user mailing list.