When I was in British middle school I got into trouble for bringing a small tape recorder to school.  A teacher saw it, it was confiscated and I was in deep trouble.  When I tried to explain to the deputy head that it was a tape recorder and not a radio (which was specifically forbidden by school rules) I was told to "shut up" and that I didn't have the "right to speak" because I had broken a rule.<p>In the end my parents went to the headmaster and gave him an earful.<p>The good news is that the school's behaviour had a lasting impression on me: people in authority act like assholes because they are in authority.