Generally speaking, I have a problem with authority. I don’t like being told what to do or how to do it. I’m not proud of that.

I recall debating with my high school trigonometry teacher regarding the value of the homework “process”—specifically in those situations where the student in question did not require practice to get an A. And, if said student was getting a 98 percent on the exams, why spend effort trying for those last two points? In the world of cost/benefit analysis, what’s the point? That homework effort may have cut into said student’s social time, and said student had to make choices.

To this day, I believe that I had a valid point. Although, based on an unfortunate turn of events that resulted in an 89 percent and a difficult explanation to my parents, I’d now recommend there’s probably a time and place to disagree with an existing process. Touché, Mr. Petrunyak. Touché.

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