In the summer of 2002 at age 11 I was sent to a college as part of the Kids in College program. Dr. Charleston, who was a science professor gave out a test and said, “Follow the instructions exactly and get done as quickly as possible.” Regardless of loathing my environment and the bullshit academics, I felt the need to blow the rest of the class out of the water and I skipped over the introduction explaining how to properly set up your name and date at the top and proceeded to fly through the rest of the paper to get ahead of the rest of the class. As I was dashing about the lecture room with a few other students, I noted 12 or so who were still stuck on reading the paper, entirely bored. After several other minutes had passed, the rest of the kids that were up with me, independently trying to finish the mindless marathon, finished and returned to their seats. I was left alone, frustratingly wondering how they got through with it so fast. Then I got to the last number and suddenly realized why. Once I was done I sat down at my seat and the professor then had asked if I would read aloud the first sentence at the top. “Read through the list before you begin.” He then asked me what number 30 stated. “Do not execute numbers 1-29. Sign your name at the top and stay in your seat.” I then asked “Yeah, but did I get everything on the list correct?” As I was prepared to leave at the end of the hour he came up to me and whispered something to the effect of, “Ambition should always be made to yield to patience and humility. Your intelligence as a person is of little value if you cannot learn from and respect those wiser than you. Your ability to listen is what will reward you in this field, not arrogance, for there is always something more to understand.” That really stuck with me as a kid, and that is why I love good teachers. Does anyone else have memory where an educator or mentor taught something of value