What color is school? I asked members of the 32-bit Café what colors they associate with science, math, English / language arts, and history / social studies. Here's what they had to say.
What color is science?
Green: 67% Blue: 25% Red: 3% Other: 3% (31 voters)
Green is the clear winner, and I'm not surprised (although an IRL friend suggested that science is sterile white). Plants are green, and the science building at my university was even named Green Science. Shout-out to Ribose's amazing sciencey website, which contains a lot of green nature imagery.
What color is math?
Red: 57% Blue: 3% Gray: 9% Green: 3% Pink: 3% Other: 3% (33 voters)
Red is the winner here (maybe because math can be really frustrating?), but surely I can't be the only one who thinks math is yellow! Judy clocks, the place value blocks I used in 1st grade, and the awful math textbooks I attempted to learn from in middle school were all yellow.
What color is English or language arts?
Yellow: 34% Blue: 28% Red: 21% Green: 6% Brown: 3% Pink: 3% Other: 3% (32 voters)
Yellow won by a slight margin, but for me, English is usually light blue. That might be because it was a relatively breezy subject for me.
What color is history or social studies?
Yellow: 30% Brown: 24% Blue: 15% Green: 9% Red: 9% Gray: 6% Other: 6% (33 voters)
Yellow wins again, but I don't think history is a bright yellow... If history is anything close to yellow, it's the color of old book pages. I associate history with neutral earth tones, like the color of old pottery or the dust of an archaeological dig.
comments from friends and forum members
"I think most of mine are based on the capital first letter. M is always red (math). E and L are yellow (English, Language). S is blue (science)... Gym doesn’t deserve a color." -solaria
"Math, especially high school onward I associate with blue as it is a subject that makes me panic as if I were in the ocean with a deflating life jacket... English/Language arts are pink because it was my safe haven from so much that was wrong at the time." -zepp
"Math is red because math just feels like a red word, to me… it gives the vibes." -Jay
"I think I remember my [math] textbooks being blue. It's also just a really cool logical feeling color." -Sara
"Every subject is black for me, because my school years were seasons in the abyss." -starbreaker