The other day in math class, my teacher went over the concept that a number higher on a number line has a higher overall value. Now to preface, math was never my forte and probably never will be, however before I began thinking back to my previous algebra courses and it dawned on me that this theorem is instilled in everyone, but not just in a mathematical context. I witness this system of judgement everywhere and at every stage of my life, where class ranks, number of retweets and Snapchat Story views are among the many worries our society has in today's world. I looked around at the students struggling to comprehend what the teacher said and pondered for a second. How can people lack the understanding of an idea that they unknowingly implement every day?
As members of society, we constantly identify ourselves by the number of likes we get on our Instagram photos, grade point averages, salaries and other quantitative factors. Additionally, we tend to stop at no cost to always obtain bigger, better, and more often than not, more due to the quantitative thinking everpresent in our daily lives. We allow these numbers to define our personal worth, claiming that the more popularity, A’s, and money we have places us higher on society’s scale, causing us to have a higher overall value than others and cause unnecessary disparity among our peers.
As a result of the underground prevalence of this notion society refuses to acknowledge, we suffer through lowering self-esteem, the concept of the fear of missing out (FOMO), and other methods of self-criticism that we've created for ourselves, disregarding other qualities about ourselves we often forget to consider. So when I am asked what I hope will change about where I live or the way I've grown up, I think of the constant talk of test scores in high school in order to get into the best universities, body measurements in the domain of beauty for both men and women, or how much we spend on the latest designer clothes in order to stay trendy and "in" and my answer is clear.
This overarching numerical hierarchy that exists in our society has diminished the importance of genuine characteristics of humanity like diligence and dedication without us even realizing it. Growing up, I've shed more and more light on my hope that those around me learn to leave the widespread obsession with numbers in math class and re-familiarize themselves with the concept of judging each other based on quality rather than quantity.
