My Teacher is My Hero by Susan Reynolds

Author:Susan Reynolds
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Adams Media, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Published: 2008-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Great and Powerful Zimmerman

Lauren Cassel Brownell

On a sweltering summer day in Room 304 of the Austin Community College campus, I came face-to-face for the first time with the Great and Powerful Zimmerman—ostensibly a meek and mild-mannered man whose power rested in the fact that he held my future in his hands. When he passed out the syllabus for Math 101—the one class that could prevent me from entering the college I desired—my heart began to race, my palms began to sweat, my stomach churned, and even my vision blurred. Every horrible experience I’d ever had with math (and there were many) passed before my eyes.

Always a straight-A student, in sixth grade, a failure to grasp math concepts led to my very first B, succeeded by a disappointingly predictable string of Cs and Ds. Finally, my sophomore year in high school, my math teacher, Mr. Harkins, called my parents in for a conference. “I’m sorry,” he said, shaking his head and looking at the ground. “Lauren is simply incapable of learning advanced mathematical concepts. I don’t think college is in her future; she’ll never pass college-level math.” My parents were stunned. I was broken hearted. At age fifteen, my boundless future had its first set of limitations placed upon it.

If I was fated to remain the math moron Mr. Harkins proclaimed me, I compensated by excelling in Advanced Placement English and honors science classes. I won statewide awards for my acting and debating skills and celebrated by avoiding math like the plague. I took—and barely passed—a remedial math course in order to be able to graduate from high school. And now, here I was face-to-face with Math 101, the dreaded college algebra class of my nightmares.

My goal was to limit my agony to six weeks instead of an entire semester. If I could pass the course, I could still squeak into the college of my choice. If I failed, I would have to settle for a college at the bottom of my list. And instead of being able to chart my own path for future success, I would have to search for a major, any major that did not require math. Mr. Harkins’s words were still ringing in my ears.

In summer school, everything moved at lightning speed, so it only took three days for Mr. Zimmerman to recognize my ineptitude and ask me to stay after class. “What’s going on, Lauren?” he asked. “You seem like a smart and capable young woman. But it’s as if you aren’t even trying.”

Again, I stood before the Great and Powerful Zimmerman, reliving every painful mathematically induced moment I had ever experienced. Tears welled in my eyes. I looked up, met his steely gaze, and whispered, “I can’t do math.”

And he laughed! Thus far I hadn’t even seen him crack a smile, but my heartrending confession caused him to laugh out loud. “Why would you say such a thing? Anyone can do math!”

“My tenth-grade math teacher called my parents in to tell us that I could not do math.

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