The project required each lab team to develop a hypothesis,set up an experiment to test the hypothesis,run the tests,do the statistical analysis and present the findings.Whatever grade the team received would be shared by both students.When my lab mate and I met to discuss our project,I was uneasy.Here was this challenging student who had a reputation for single-mindedness and good grades—the exact opposite of me.I was outmatched.I actually wanted to drop the class at one point,but stopped short because I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of my chickening out.I asked my friends at work what I should do,and the overall response was to stick it out no matter what.After lengthy discussions,we somehow agreed to do a study on the tactilekinesthetic perception of space.I wasn’t sure what it meant,but at least we had a topic.We started to meet regularly to formulate our plans,and every time I felt the project was more his than mine.The more we met,the more I resented his intelligence and his ability to cut through to the core issues.
And I was aware he was much more advanced than me.He knew technical things and approached every detail with great singularity of purpose.I,on the other hand,must have seemed naive,with little to offer.At one point l summoned up my courage and asked him why he seemed so uptight and serious.To my surprise,he replied that he didn’t have time for small talk or petty people and things that would waste his time.He even went on to say that he didn’t have many friends because most so-called friends were just a distraction.But,he added,when he did choose someone to be his friend,they would be a friend for life.I was floored by his cold and cynical response.Right then and there,I realized the end of the semester couldn’t come soon enough.As the semester wore on,we tried to fashion a simple yet elegant experiment.Part of our job was to select students who had volunteered to be subjects for our project.I decided to devote myself to the task of working with the subjects,while he developed the scientific model.