My father has other gifts, too. He can multiply two-digit numbers in his head, giving you an accurate answer immediately. My sister and I test him throughout our childhoods, and he almost never makes a mistake. This, too, is a lesson for me, one that goes well beyond mathematics: Intelligence and education are not the same thing. A person may lack prestige or a diploma but nevertheless have a swift mind. For much of my life, I assume that everyone knows this, that this fact is so obvious it isn’t something that needs to be learned. Only later, when I begin to work in academia, will I come to
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