“Maybe your counselor thought this class would look good on a transcript,” he said. “Maybe some committee wanted a feel-good success story. Either way, let’s settle this right now.”
He turned and began writing.
Symbols.
Fractions.
Powers.
Nested terms so ugly they looked like they were trying to crawl off the board.
“I’m going to give you five minutes,” he said without facing me. “This problem has wrecked graduate students, postdocs, and people much better prepared than you. So come on, Mr. Parker. Let’s prove something today.”
Then he turned back toward the class and smiled.
“Either he solves it, or we all learn the difference between being admitted and actually belonging.”
Nobody laughed.
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