At the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Kwabena Darko was living his dream:
24 years old, fresh graduate in Mathematics Education, now a Teaching Assistant (TA) in the
Basic Education Department.
He had imagined spending his TA year inspiring students to love algebra, solve equations, and
maybe, just maybe, become the Neil Armstrong of Mathematics in Winneba.
What he didn't imagine was that his biggest challenges would not be complex numbers …
It would be complex women.
It started on his second day of tutorials at North Campus.
The topic was "Solving Quadratic Equations by Factorization."
Kwabena was happily explaining when a hand shot up. it was Efua, the prettiest but most
mischievous girl in the class.
"Sir, please," Efua purred, "if X and Y can find common factors... can two humans also factor
themselves together?"
The class HOWLED with laughter.
Kwabena stood there, stunned, holding his marker like a lost warrior.
He quickly mumbled something about "academic seriousness" and turned back to the board but
now the board looked suspiciously like it was laughing at him too.
Things only got worse.
Every time Kwabena gave a test, Efua and her squad wrote romantic math puns at the back of their
papers:
" Without you, my life is like a line with zero slopes boring".
" You are the cosine to my sine let's integrate".
One day, they even submitted a fake test script where all the answers were just " Marry me, Sir
Kwabena. XOXO. "
Kwabena nearly collapsed.
The real disaster, though, came during the Departmental Talent Show.
Efua cornered Kwabena backstage and whispered:
"Sir, if I win, my prize is you taking me for ice cream at Beggies Lounge."
Kwabena laughed nervously. "We'll see after you win." Big mistake.
Efua went on stage, grabbed the mic, and shouted:
"If I win, Sir Kwabena will take me for ice cream... and maybe solve my personal X and Y! " The
crowd roared. Even some lecturers laughed.
Poor Kwabena wanted to evaporate like water in the Winneba sun.
After that, Kwabena became a campus legend.
Girls started calling him " Mr. X-Factor "
Even other TAs teased him: "Ei, Kwabena, please solve for X before you solve students!"
Meanwhile, Dr Truth (his supervisor) summoned him and said, stone-faced
"Mr. Darko, this is Basic Education, not Basic Seduction."
Kwabena had to sign a whole "Professional Conduct Agreement" after that.