Easy Math

Photo by Elimende Inagella

We did timed arithmetic sheets when I was in 2nd grade. A single laminated sheet with rows of addition and subtraction problems. We had strange black pens that used a thick, smudgy sort of not-ink that only came off with a solvent and what felt excessive elbow-grease to 7 and 8-year-olds.

We’d scribble away in a fervor, and I loved it. I was fast. Maybe one of the quickest in the class. It was thrilling and validating to cruise along. I don’t recall if you put your smudge pen down or walked your paper up when you were finished, but there was some way that it was publically recognized if you were quick. That mattered because, as everyone knows, fast means smart.

One day, Mrs. Powell praised my speed and accuracy and noted that I’d soon be able to get started on multiplication, even though that wasn’t scheduled until 3rd grade. My heart plummeted. I didn’t know how to multiply (which, I didn’t seem to grasp was the point of moving on to learn), but I knew that …