I recall quite well an incident in a sophomore economics class for engineering and other non-econ students, when the professor in charge "visited" to see how well the teaching assistant was doing.

I innocently stated an opinion, and "Professor Paul" jumped on it with both feet, and we "debated" the opinion for about a quarter of the class time.

The Prof and I were apparently the ony two there who realized we were having a discussion rather than an argument, and several classmates expressed concern that I'd "blown the course" by "arguing" with the Prof, but Professor "Paul," according to news reports, used some of my arguments in testimony before the Senate a couple of weeks later - without crediting me, of course. (He apparently realized that to state something in terms idiots could understand he needed to ask an idiot?) His testimony was significant in the Congressional Hearings, and a significant part of the reason why the US now (or at least for a while) has had an "inflation adjustment" for Social Security payments and for income tax "brackets."

Professor (Dr.) Paul Samuelson received the Nobel Prize for Economics a couple of years later.

[That "opinion" was really fun, even if all my classmates had forgotten the incident before I had a chance to brag about it.]

John