Numbers are awesome.
I was just thinking about it today (don’t judge me, it’s only my Junior year and I’ve already checked out mentally- at least from my easy classes) and we care more about numbers than anything else. From salaries, to grades, to how many lollipops your sister got as compared to you- we’re obsessed. Numbers are solid, factual; they can’t lead us astray. Right? I know every time I flip through Time (heh) I go straight for three sections: 10 Questions, that awesome time-line-y kind of article that goes from SHOCKING to SHOCKINGLY PREDICTABLE, and By the Numbers. Ok, so one doesn’t fit. But my point remains. I automatically assume someone is intelligent when I hear magic numbers they’ve achieved, like a 33, or a 2240, or a 140 (ACT, SAT, IQ.) Numbers- they’re what’s for belief!
Einstien, whose knowlegde was esoteric- he dealt with numbers, and we were amazed. Awed, even.
Franklin, whose knowledge was common- he dealt with words, and we were just… satisfied.
“This teacher had a graduation rate of 87%, this prosecutor has a conviction rate of 79%.” Oooooh. Aaaaaah. “A trillion dollars is enough to buy every man, woman, and child in the U.S. 300 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. If you stacked a trillion dollars, in hundred dollar bills, the height or the stack would be 86 Mt. Everests.”
Numbers turn the unbelievable into the possible, the intangible into the understandable.
Go numbers.
If you’ve never read Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, I recommend it. It only somewhat has to do with numbers, but I don’t know, for some reason I think you’d like it.
(All of the chapters are prime numbers instead of natural. The reason why has to do with the character you read about. He’s… odd. But not scary oh-man-this-guy’s-creepy odd.)
He has Asperger’s, good book.
Maybe it’s my crazy liberal education, but I’m of the notion that there are a lot of social factors that go into most of those numbers, and a lot of them are politicized. For example, there’s always been a debate over the SAT being geared more to favoring middle and upper-class white kids as opposed to poor minorities. It’s sort of a complicated subject and while I don’t necessarily agree with that, there are plenty of times when a standardized test just doesn’t capture someone’s abilities. I got great scores on my SATs (I took them before they changed the point system), perfect scores on AP exams, and perfect scores on my state’s standardized testing. I took them with a couple kids I was convinced were completely brilliant who didn’t do so hot. Did it change my perception, or show that they weren’t brilliant? Hardly.
To get a little deeper into the issue of numbers is to realize that numbers, like everything else, are subject to interpretation and will be politicized and used for someone’s gain, which means almost inevitably someone else’s loss.
Or I could just be some nut job who’s on the Slip ‘n Slide to Crazy Town.
I’ve actually read that, Reg! I loved it. He doesn’t have Asbergers, though… he’s autistic. And he refuses to use metaphors.
And of course you’re right, Drew… you could find a stat that seems to support any ridiculous claim you chose to make. And some of my smartest friends have trouble testing; it doesn’t alter my opinion of them. I’m just saying.
Although Christopher’s condition within the autism spectrum is not stated explicitly within the novel, the summary on the book’s inside cover or back cover (depending on the edition) describes it as Asperger syndrome.
Check and mate, Mr. Car-Car.
What I do like about numbers is how precise they are. They may be open to interpretation and relativity, but they themselves are infallible and exact.
I like numbers… they are absolute and have much more behind them than one would thing (mathematics is a godly field)
However, numbers are misleading to those who don’t comprehend the facts that they represent. Isn’t that why statics are such a powerful persuasion tool?
Also, they are too relied on. I for one dislike things like marks, age limits and standardised testing. They transform unique people with varied talents into a set of numbers.
e.g. Once you reach the age of 19 (Ontario…lol), you can drink. Not a month before; just past that magical moment where you’re apparently mature enough based on the revolution of our planet around the sun.
Then again, as flawed as these things are, we are probably unable to handle these things without relying on numbers to set an arbitrary standard.
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