As we get older in life, we realize it's not the cars, houses, money, but other things that are more important...

You see these all the time, and I saw this posted on Facebook recently. I think it's more like this:

As we get older, we manage to check things off the list like acquiring car, houses, money, and the other things in life that we need to live life comfortably. So once we're comfortable because we've acquired those things, we realize that we have other priorities too like family, friends, peace of mind.

To test this hypothesis, take away the house, cash, and car from someone who's 50 years old so their situation is just like the typical person coming out of college. 

My guess: Most people will quickly realize how important that car, cash, and home are for their personal happiness.

Moral: You don't realize how important something is, until it's taken away from you. And that doesn't just apply to people and relationships.

Exams are stupid because they don't reflect real life, do they?

Someone passed this video to me.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4073060403754

I use the Pythagorean theorem all the time. Last week in fact, but I digress. 

Exams are a way to verify people have mastered a particular subject. The reason for mastering a variety of subjects is to think better. That will help us get further ahead in life. Without exams, students would not study as hard to master the subjects they were not interested in. But just because someone isn't interested in a subject doesn't mean what it teaches the mind will not be useful in the future.

As far as relevance to life, life is filled with exams that compare our progress with others. People demand salaries based on what other people make, not what they need to live on. In other words, it's about comparing our performance to others to see whether we pass or not. If you make less than the other person with a similar job, you feel bad. If you make more, you feel better.

This extends to just about everything. Who is prettier, more popular, wealthier, earning more. The world is a competitive place where we live better if we improve our minds and live worse if we don't.

There are penalties for being late by one minute all the time. Get to the post office 1 minute after they close, and pay a late fee on your mortgage. Forget the highway exit at a critical moment, and you'll be late to an important meeting. File a legal filing one day late, and that $100 million dollar award evaporates.  

Yes, exams are stressful and so are courses, but they're difficult for a reason and it's not an entirely bad reason.