What makes me tick is numbers.

Are you high, or are you low?

What’s your class rank at this time?

Do you have a 4.0?

 

Public schools number us.

Race, class, social security.

Our numbers define us.

Our numbers are all they see.

 

Our numbers for the scores

Of countless standardized tests.

And if you have the highest number,

You’re for sure the best.

 

Our number for our race

Are you black, in poverty?

Colleges pick you for your race

In the “land of the free.”

 

Our numbers for our income

Who cares how much Mom makes?

College is about the humans,

Not the numbers you create.

 

Our number for our birthday?

That question is always there.

We’re defined by our age

In a system that is “fair.”

 

Our numbers don’t tell them

If we’re good at what we do

They tell them if we made the cut

Are we good enough for you?