Lots of Numbers

In school, grades are important. The other day, the school guidance counselor came into our class and talked about how the grades we're getting now are important to get into a good college. We saw some example transcripts and talked about how many credits each class was worth and things like that.

School is all about numbers. Every piece of work you do in every class gets a grade, a number. And everyone wants to get high numbers because high numbers are good. It's all facts and figures and the goal is to get the highest numbers possible.

But what about outside of school. What about "the real world"? Do any of these silly little numbers really matter?

I think yes, they do. Maybe not those particular numbers but other ones. If you have a high number of friends, that's good. If you spend a lot of fun time with friends, that's also good. If you think about it, it's really very similar to school. Every interaction you make helps those social numbers go up or down. Everyone wants the high numbers, just like in school.  You just don't get a report card. Instead, you get fun and feeling good about yourself.

And if you fail with a friendship, it's even worse than failing a test.

But if you succeed, the rewards are great. You have people to talk to, people to relate to, people to joke with and have fun with.

Some people are very good at getting high social numbers but not as good with school numbers. Some people are the other way around. But here and now, it seems like the line is beginning to blur. Class discussions, for example, combine school and social skills. You have to talk, but you also have to think about things like symbolism or interpretations. Things like this are making everyone better at everything and making the whole school a better place.