How does one deal with:
Its not your code dont touch it 🫠
Its a school project
Is this something you actually encounter?

I deal with this at work, so yes.
And … I don’t know. Well, sort of. But the best you can do is to leave and find better people, since this sort is a lost cause.

At work, they want me to do a perfect job, chew me out when I don’t (and also for doing too good of a job), but don’t want me to change anything or put my code in more public places. It should be tucked away somewhere where it works but they don’t see it. And when I do this, they chew me out saying it should be in a model along with everything else.

The problem here is that there is absolutely no way to make these people happy. They will find fault with everything, no matter what. But! You can learn their patterns and still get the outcome you want. In this case, I want my code in a certain way so it’s clean and maintainable, so I write it in a way that they will chew me out and tell me to rewrite it more or less how I wanted to.

If you must deal with these people: Smile and nod, silently manipulate, rant in private. And do whatever you can to preserve your mental health.

If i think the code needs some touching - i will definitely touch it sooner or later. It may take a while till the correct opportunity arrives - but then i will do with it whatever i want.

I don't touch it. I copy it rename the class and fix everything I need and call my class. Add // ..|.. above his class and tell him "Your ego doesn't belong here".

OR

I assign the task/bug to him

OR

In one of my current projects, it is to risky to break prod rn. High Business time, we touch it later

at work it is more complicated, but for a school project I'd just leave it.
if it was work, i think you'd have to weigh how that's gonna impact you and others, whether you leave it or mess with it. it's better to make sure you're on the same page as others, no use getting involved with something that has nothing to do with you