Mark on a Test
Not equal to your mark on the world.
I had a friend who wasn't so good at math.
And when they got a test back that didn't go so well,
they would say,
"I'm so dumb."
The first couple of times,
I shrugged it off,
until eventually,
I realized that they actually believed
the lies that poured from their mouth.
So I told them...
No.
You're not dumb.
You're not stupid.
You're not an idiot
for not knowing the Pythagorean Theorem.
You are not worth less than others
because you don't understand
the quadratic equation.
You are not worse than me
because I got a 90
while you got a 60.
The test proves nothing.
It doesn't prove your worth.
It doesn't prove your intelligence.
It proves how good you are at a structured examination
created from a curriculum
devised by a group of old men who still profess
that intelligence can be quantified.
Did you know
that the first IQ test was created
to determine which French kids were doing well in kindergarten.
A man named H.H. Goddard was the one who popularized it,
and led the world to believe that the tests
could quantify intelligence.
Or, more simply put,
Quantify the unquantifiable.
Let me ask you this.
Can you tell me the number associated with the colour green?
How about the smell of roses?
Or the taste of fresh bread?
Exactly.
You cannot quantify them.
So why do people think you can quantify the intelligence of another person?
Why do all of the intricacies of our minds have to boil down to a number?
Why does the mark on a test have to equal my mark on the world?
It doesn't.
It never has.
So stop treating these meaningless tests like they're gospel
and appreciate who you are.
These tests
Mean nothing,
Do nothing,
Be nothing.
Don't let a mark on a test
Dictate your mark on the world.
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About the Creator
Matt Martin
Canadian Playwright, Poet, and Performer.
Let's write our own happy ending.
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