A college professor

In college, some years ago, I had to wait in a hallway
for one of my professors.

Across the way a door opened into a history class.
The professor, a tall balding white-haired man came in,
put his books down and looked out over the class.

"As you know, my goal in this class will not be to teach you
how to think for yourselves but to force you to conform to
my way of thinking."

As one, a hundred pens began scribbling on a hundred
notebooks and I could see a look of purest terror creeping
up over the professor's face.

"No, no!" he shouted. "That was a joke!"

For a moment every face turned up to look at him blankly.
Then, as one, they all laughed. When I left, the professor
was still staring at them, open-mouthed...
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