Japanese Literature Course. Dr John (what he liked to be called) was the professor and I had him for an English class already and liked him.
The class was not overly large, maybe 12 people and we met in a conference room rather than a typical classroom. This event was a couple of weeks into the class and Dr John was getting increasingly... Erratic... I guess is the way to describe him. The class was supposed to be more about open discussion than lecture. However, it was full of sophomores who for the most part were used to sitting for lectures. I think Dr John was getting more and more erratic during class in a hope to get the students participating. It had the opposite effect unfortunately, until he started saying some things that I thought were just wildly incorrect and I called him out on it.
I literally got a look on my face, which he noticed instantly and he asked what my opinion was... And 19 year old me replied to my doctorate level professor; "Dr John I think you're full of shit."
Everyone's eyes went wide and people looked stunned, including me because it was an instinctive reaction on my part. I fully expected to get kicked out of the class, but Dr John actually smiled and asked; "Ok Mr Flyer, please explain to me just how I'm full of shit."
And I did... At least I tried to as at the time I was just a 19 year old moron attempting to take on a middle aged man that had decades of study. What ensued for the rest of that period was he and I going back and forth. Of course he easily dismembered all of my arguments, but he was respectful and we had a real dialog going on. I felt I learned more in that one hour than the previous three semesters.
While that day helped break some of the other people out of their shells, I ended being the only person in the class that earned an "A".
