Value is Valueless

 

I came upon this thought many times before, but it concreted itself in my mind while i was NOT taking the Algebra 2 exam. I did try to take it but I found it nearly impossible to understand and the first section of the exam (the only part that I did) took me a little under an hour to complete. Usually math exams take me just over an hour to complete, on this one I could only do the first of five sections in that amount of time. The five sections were of equal length (don't you just love mathematicians, not a random bone in their bodies, or so they believe) so its logical to conclude that this one was five times harder than any I've ever taken before. Now I'm really good at math, I made 98's on my elementary school exams (the only ones I actually remember the grades for, but believe me most of the rest of them were about the same). So if I'm that good, how the hell is anyone else going to do on it? I went on to read a book on Zen Buddhism, which, by the way, was a much more rewarding activity, and it was there in that book that i found the words to fill the holes in the Swiss cheese idea I had had before. But none of that is the idea I want to convey.

 

This is: How the hell did we end up like this? How is someone's worth solely determined by near impossible tests? You're probably thinking its the fault of North Carolina's “No Child Left Behind” Act, which makes these test's standard. Well, although I hate the idea behind the act, it's not what I blame. I blame the society who thought it was a good idea. I think a drop out is just a worthy a person as a graduate. I think the act actually leaves behind more people than it saves.

 

I also think, however, that intelligence is a good thing. But the idea that it can be quantified by numbers is ridiculous. The idea that numbers (and the underlying idea of math) have the ability to quantify anything truly important is the idea of fools. Think about it, even the most basic math is, while useful, is philosophically worthless.

 

Remember the problem you heard in first grade that went something like this: You have 5 apples, and someone takes away 2 of them, how many do you have left? The answer is 3. The number 3 means nothing. 3 what, I ask? The number 3 means nothing by itself, and means little more when you apply it to “reality”. In the context you would have 3 apples. You have 3 apples in your hand, why does it matter that subtraction can be applied to the situation? The answer is, it doesn't. You can see the three apples in your hand, so who cares why you have three of them. If you eat one of them, you are left with 2 apples (more subtraction), but who cares? You got hungry, you ate an apple, you're no longer hungry, math need not be applied. Math is an invention of scientists and is not a need for survival. We didn't have math to begin with and we survived without it.

 

I'm not saying that we shouldn't learn math, due to the demands put on us by society, it is, more or less, needed. But math is not necessary to survival, and not necessary to ones worth as a person. Jesus didn't know how many loaves of bread and fishes he created in the famous biblical legend, nor did he realize that multiplication was involved, yet he is widely regarded as one of the most important people of all time.

 

So as these tests, designed mistakenly to calculate ones value in society, get progressively harder more people will be unable to cope and more people will be left behind. Many of these people, feeling defeated, will go on to worthless jobs and homelessness, thus making the gap between the lower classes and the higher classes wider and decreasing the overall quality of life. For most of these people a test wasn't needed for them to be successful. What they needed was for someone to affirm that they are the worthwhile persons that they truly are, in spite of what the damned numbers say.

 

So, I leave you with this thought. Even if you just got word that you failed some exam, I assure you this does not mean you are worth any less as a person. But, don't drop out just yet, they must realize their mistake soon, and even if they don't, they will at least realize that they took their ideals a little too far when a majority of Algebra 2 students fail the exam.

 

Maybe then they will realize what I have learned, and attempted to teach you: Value is Valueless.

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[Emily B]

Numbers give me hives. But words--words have value.