In life, people can find themselves somewhere over the rainbow. At least once in your life, you have probably chosen a childhood toy, piece of candy, or even a shirt based on its color. 

When it comes to school supplies, people often have specific colors that they associate with different academic subjects to meet their emotional or psychological needs. Others might simply choose colors based on “what feels right” or what they like. Personally, I use a combination of these to choose the colors I feel go best with the four main academic subjects.

For me, red goes with math class and green is associated with science courses. I also believe blue correlates with history courses and black relates to English.

If you ask me, red goes with math because of the way this subject has made me feel. I am currently a junior, and, to this day, I think about the anger that I was filled with when taking an accelerated math class. This frustration was like no other. I desperately wanted to understand this subject, but I felt like the class was too hard because the class moved so fast.

 I remember working on the assigned homework and chucking my pencil across my living room to express my rage. While doing math independently at home, I constantly felt the need to find the right answer but didn’t know how. No one around me knew how to help or guide me. Working through this process of trial and error frustrated me because I always felt like I was wrong. The next day, as the teacher went over the answers, my face would instantly brighten as I realized not all my answers were wrong. In these moments, I knew that if I really tried, studied, and asked for help when needed, I could learn to handle the difficult math problems I was facing. Although, due to the difficulties I once had in math classes, red feels like a good way to express this subject.  Out of 146 people polled in our school, 84 agree red goes with math.  

“Math has lots of negative feelings, so seeing a red notebook is [sort of] like a warning,” junior Ella Edwards said.

While many people agree that red goes with math, some people have an opposing approach to this idea.

“My teachers always used [a] red pen to [grade] my horrible essays,” junior Lawton Rowan said. “Therefore, red is for reading/English.” 

I am confident that the color green goes with science courses. When I think of green, I think of all of the beautiful shades that are found in nature.When green comes to my mind, I think of the land masses as they gradually shift, shake, and break. I envision the green land amongst the large bodies of water seen on globes. Honestly, this is simply one of those things that “just makes sense” in my head, and many people agree with this idea. Amidst the 146 polled 107 agree green goes with science.

“The environment and nature [are] deeply connected with science and evolution, and green represents that perfectly in my opinion,” senior Cassidy Frazier said.

Regardless of the numerous people who completely agree with green pairing extremely well with science courses, there are individuals who do not feel the same way. 

“ [I] disagree because blue means imagination and that’s what science means to me,” freshman Ryan Dumire said.

When I think of history classes, I picture many shades of blue that are easy on the eye. I think of a deep royal blue for the many kings and queens we study who once walked our Earth. I imagine a shade of blue similar to the ocean for the explorers who sailed the oceans in search of new lands. I feel that blue goes with history due to the sad feelings surrounding this subject. I grieve when learning of the people who lost their lives in events like the Holocaust and senseless acts committed during war. In my opinion, blue adds just the right amount of emotion to this subject. Though, among the people polled only 26 agree that blue goes with history.

“[I] agree,” English teacher Meredith Williamson said. “I have no idea why. I guess blue is the color of anxiety and sadness, I associate so much of history with anxiety and sadness and looking at the bad things so we can learn from our mistakes.”

Although some people agree, there are others who disagree wholeheartedly.

  “ I view blue with English and brown with history,” social studies teacher Sarah Amick said. “Brown because of old leather bound journals and parchments.”

I believe black goes with English classes. Black seems appropriate to convey the indefinite perspectives in literature. Sometimes trying to understand poetry is like exploring an old library with low lighting. Every work of literature has a diverse number of meanings that we try to figure out. Furthermore, in every work of literature there is conflict. Conflicts are stressors, struggles, and pain, which force our characters to grow and learn from the conflict they faced. This is a valuable lesson for any individual facing conflict. My English class analyzed resolving conflict by doing a breakout box in the library and a mock trial regarding the Lord of the Flies. Sometimes, conflict can seem dark and scary, especially when you feel like you have no clue what to do. Therefore, black seems just right to express how English can make me feel. Out of the 146 people that were polled, 21 agree that black goes with English.

 “I agree and this is because black refers to evil and power which is shown in past writings,” junior Mia Bracken said.  

While people do agree with my opinion, others choose to look at English from a different aspect.

“I disagree because black feels dull and dreary,” freshman Ronald Deane said. “Although some may think of English this way, I find it to be one of the more relaxed subjects in school.”

Overall, it can be seen that people associate colors with different subjects for diverse reasons. These reasons can range from making sense physiologically to being something that someone is used to. In life, people have options and they get to choose accordingly. It doesn’t have to make sense to others as long as it’s “just right” to the person who chose it.