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.