When you think of math, what color do you think of? How about history, or science? Why do different people think of different colors when thinking of the same topic? There are often many arguments about what different colors may represent, or even debates about the color of certain objects. Because of this, a survey was sent out asking the Wilmington Friends community what different colors came to mind based on different places and school subjects. There are also inconsistencies in what color each person views different things. A famous example of this is the gold and white or blue and black dress that was trending a few years ago. So, what color do you think of, and what colors do you see?
The first three questions in the survey asked students what color came to mind when they thought of the beach, the countryside, and the city. In this debate about the beach, yellow and blue tied as the most common colors that people thought of paired with the beach. Blue had 18 votes and yellow had 17. However, many students also said beige, tan, and turquoise. When asked about the countryside, green was by far the most popular color that the countryside reminded students of with 42 votes. Many people also said brown and yellow as well. The next question, asking students about the city, grey took the spot as the most given answer for the city’s color with 38 votes. It seems as though there is a strong consensus on these colors, but what about school subjects?
When students were asked what color math was, there was a very close competition! However, red won with 46.2% of the votes, with blue close behind at 41.5% of votes. So math is red? In addition, history ended up with yellow as the winner with 27.9% of votes, with red in second place at 19.1% of votes. So the school has decided, history is yellow! When it came to science, there was a very clear consensus of green as the winner, with 79.4% of votes. English had a close call, however yellow won at 26.5% of votes with blue close behind with 22.1% of votes. Is English also yellow? And finally, when asked about what color their language reminded them of, purple won at 19.1% of votes with red very close behind with 17.6% of votes. The students have spoken. Math is red, History is yellow, science is green, English is yellow as well, and languages are purple.
And finally, the debate we have all been waiting for, the dress! Is it blue and black or white and gold? Well, this question seemed to have a lot of debate. However, the majority said that the dress is blue and black with 51.5% of votes. 39.7% of students said that they think the dress is white and gold. The remaining percentage said that the dress is blue and gold.
In conclusion, color seems to be up for debate for many people. Knowable Magazine says, “A lot of factors feed into how people perceive and talk about color, from the biology of our eyes to how our brains process that information, to the words our languages use to talk about color categories. There’s plenty of room for differences, all along the way.” The brain processes colors differently from person to person, and our school community proved that with the many different perspectives on colors, and what they can represent.
