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In fifth grade, we were given a sheet of paper with 100 multiplication problems. The challenge was to finish the 100 problems in under 3 minutes. The challenge wasn’t for a grade — only bragging rights, I guess. I never finished the 100 problems. I had 3 tries, and I couldn’t do it.
I think about this regularly. Like weirdly often I remember that “times table.”
In high school, I racked up an impressive number of accolades for mathematics: a Geometry award, a Geometry Team member helping win the 3rd place Math Tournament trophy, and an Algebra II team member. In getting my Associates’s degree, I CLEP’d College Algebra. Basically, math is[was] my jam.
I just can’t bury that one failure from 5th grade with all those achievements, with all that evidence of my math skills. It’s bizarre.
It’s also a perfect model for how my mind processes achievements and shortcomings.