Opportunity Cost: The cost
of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action. Put
another way, the benefits you could have received by taking an alternative
action.
In elementary school, students build fundamental skills that
they will use for the rest of their lives. As a teacher, I want my students to understand
that what they learn in my class is not applied only in my classroom. Sometimes, the lessons have implications that
go far beyond the scope of academia. One
such lesson is the lesson of opportunity cost, a 3
rd grade learning
objective that found its way into a road trip I took over my Spring break.
Southern food is good for the soul so two weeks ago, my
buddy Jeff and I hopped in my car and headed south to Athens
and Atlanta. Then, we drove east until the map turned blue
– to Charleston, SC – where the beauty of the sun-kissed
water is only eclipsed by the radiant southern belles that scatter the
sand-swept landscape. There’s just something therapeutic about a road trip – and
like the food we ate along the way, road trips are always good for the soul. And, they’re always good for strange roadside
sightings. As we were heading back home,
Jeff and I both did a double-take when we saw the bumper sticker on the back of
a car which was driven by a young woman who looked to be in her early 20s.
Me: “Did
you see that?”
Jeff: “Did
that bumper sticker say what I think it said?”
Me: “I
wonder if she lost a bet…”
Jeff: “Slow
down, I want to take a picture. This is
a must tweet.”
Me: “I bet
she gets out of a lot of speeding tickets!”
Unfortunately, the car with the bumper sticker that said “I
(heart) Richard” (except, it wasn’t ‘Richard’ – but this is a PG blog so I’ll
let you readers deduce what was actually written) was far in my rear view
mirror by that time. At that moment, we
had a decision to make: was disrupting our travel time worth having a tweet
that was sure to give our buddies a good laugh?
A difficult decision but… as much as we wanted to, the
opportunity cost of getting home later than we wanted was too much to give up.
When I look around my classroom, I see 24 children that have
an opportunity that many of their parents either didn’t have, or didn’t
capitalize on. These faces look at me
each morning with bright eyes full of life, lives full of hope, and hope for a
future that is full of joy and success.
This future is within their grasp… if only they had the foresight that
we as teachers have. Therefore, I ride
my students hard. I expect more from
them than they think they can give. I
make different tests for different students to challenge them individually
because, gosh darn it, if you’re going to get an ‘A’ in my class, you better
believe you’ve earned it. I think about
what my friends would think if they saw me in the classroom, and I’d guess many
of them would think I’m pretty mean.
“They’re only kids!” they might say. “They have the rest of their lives to work
hard.”
This is exactly why I’m tough on my students and I push them
to excel. The opportunity cost of what
they are giving up if they don’t learn the fundamental skills of perseverance
and hard work is worth far more than the opportunity given up to get home a
little sooner on a road trip. I’m hard
on my students because,
Their opportunity cost is their
opportunity, lost.
Like most teachers, I’d rather be the “mean, strict teacher”
than the “nice, cool teacher.” This has
been one of the most important lessons I’ve learned about teaching. Like many
important lessons that I’ve learned in life, this lesson has roots in a book
that contains far more wisdom than any earthly person:
“Endure hardship as
discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not
disciplined by their father? No
discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it
produces a harvest....” (Hebrews 12:7, 11a – NIV)
In other words,
“God is educating you;
that's why you must never drop out. He's treating you as dear children. This
trouble you're in isn't punishment; it's training, the normal experience of
children. At the time, discipline isn't much fun. It always feels like it's
going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely…” (Hebrews
12:7, 11a – The Message)
Realization: God is
tough on me because He loves me and it’s vital that I mature. And I, like my students, am often blind to the
importance of not persevering through the obstacles in my life. If only I could be in God’s eyes what I want
my students to be in my eyes. Then, my
OWN opportunity cost would not be my opportunity, lost.
