One day I was in
history class. My history
teacher came in looking obviously
perturbed and a more than a little
anxious. Instead of starting class normally, he told us that it was his last day in class. He had been told by the school board that the way in which he was teaching us was unacceptable, that he would have to change the curriculum. The guy was really worked up- his face was especially red that day and he almost looked as though he was going to cry at some points. He was going to in essence, lose everything he had worked hard for, and we felt bad for him.
He himself had designed a new curriculum that he would be teaching to one class and one class only- he had chosen the students that he wanted, a few from each of his classes, and he called a few students, five or so in number, out in the hall to speak with him.
When he came back, he said he wanted to know if anyone else would be interested in joining his new class. All of the remaining students raised their hands. He thanked us all, and brought the students who had been waiting in the hall back in to talk with us...
Then he told us: "I MADE UP EVERYTHING I JUST SAID, there is no problem with the school board, there is no new class, I did this just to show you that people can control you"
Background: At the time we had been studying pre-WWII era fascism, and this was our teacher's way of illustrating how people can be swayed by some heroically-spoken garbage from a charismatic leader. He was a good teacher, but I didn't trust him for a long time after that...