I started playing the violin when I was around 4 years old. My parents pushed my two brothers and I to adopt and instrument, which soon become part of ours daily lives as we pilled up orchestra, chamber music, summer camps competitions and private lessons. It was only natural for me to continue my 8 years of orchestra, which I had done back in Brussels. Having arrived at Carleton, I initially signed up for orchestra for fall term but then opted out as my fears of not being able to keep up with the academic rigor pilled up during International Student Orientation and NSW. After taking some time to adjust to the workload I realized two things. First of all, I did in fact have time to play in the orchestra and secondly Carleton requires 6 credits worth of “Arts Practice” which orchestra fulfills. In consequence, I joined at the beginning of winter term but ever since day one of site-reading our sheet music, I have wavered on quitting. As tomorrow is my registration time, I am once again forced to decide whether or not I will sign up to be in Carleton’s orchestra again.

Orchestra rehearsals for the string section are every Monday and Thursday from 6:30pm to 8pm. In terms of opportunity cost, my next best option would be to spend this time doing schoolwork as normally feel like packing up my violin and walking out of rehearsal when I have a significant amount of homework. There have even been times where I have skipped orchestra, as I felt overwhelmed with work. Orchestra is also at a very inconvenient time, my chemistry prefect sessions usually occur at that time and so will the ones for next term’s chemistry class. It also forces me to choose between eating extremely early or vary late. As foolish as that may seem, I have noticed that I work well at an interval of +/- 3hours after/before I have eaten. Orchestra shortens the time for which I experience maximum efficiency. To compensate for this I have to use Sayles dollars to be able to not have a stomachache at around 10:30pm instead of saving them for all-nighters, late-night studying and exam periods.

On the other side, orchestra is an amazing opportunity for me to take a break from work. It is an almost therapeutic experience as I am generally a very stressed person. It also gives me the opportunity to be part of team and to be surrounded by people, which is a very positive and uplifting environment instead of staring at a computer screen insolated in the libe. Apart from having a good impact on my morale, orchestra is one of the only times I get to practice and play on my violin. To determine which option has the lowest opportunity cost, I have to consider the fact that I am in College to first of all study, so to get the highest GPA it would be better for me to drop orchestra so that my academics can thrive more.

Even though one of the main reasons I joined in the first place was the credits, I did not take this fact into account when I looked at the explicit and implicit costs for each decision as I no longer value the importance of this 1 credit. This is because I spend as much time in orchestra as I would in any given class but only get 1/6 of its credit value and there are many substitutes that I can factor into my decision for fulfilling the requirement. An almost perfect substitute for orchestra, which would take away the large time component, is Chamber music. By taking this musical option, I would still obtain my 1 credit and reap the benefits of orchestra while being able to decide on rehearsal times with the other musicians in my group. The only drawback is that I have to find my own group members, and many musicians, or the ones I have talked to at least, seem quite reluctant about stopping orchestra and starting a chamber music.

Then of course, I could just opt to take one of the many 6 credit “Arts practice” courses that Carleton offers. By taking this option, I would finish the requirement in one term instead of letting it linger over time. The problem with this is that I would only be able to choose two other courses that term. In addition, we take on average a total of 36 courses during our stay at Carleton. I have no AP credit or credits that I can transfer as Carleton does not recognize the French lycée system, this means I need to take 35 classes, as that would give me the 210credit minimum to graduate. Part of the College experience is going abroad for one term which I plan on doing in my junior year, this would mean I would lose a maximum of 18 credits as I will probably under load while “campsing”. Club tennis and Alpine Skiing will give me a total of 8 credits and there are 9 trimesters left (8 where I can gain credits) so I would have to do orchestra during all the trimesters when I am on campus do be able to graduate, go abroad and fulfill Carleton’s requirement.

After having gone through this thinking process, it is clear that I either need to take Orchestra or sign up for Chamber music for every term to come. Since I would prefer not taking orchestra, yet I have determined that I have to if I am going to study abroad, Chamber music is in fact my option with the lowest opportunity cost. Chamber music eliminates the schedule and time problems that orchestra posed, while allowing my to graduate according to plan. So, for my registration today, the real question now is whether or not I will be able to find chamber music partners before I am due to register. So wish me luck!

I have always had an obsession with taking unnaturally long showers. Now that my parents aren’t here to cut of my water supply, I often fall asleep while showering or stare at the wall for what seems a couple seconds but is actually a good 20minutes. However, with the ability to time my own showers has come another price, that of shampoo. I just recently made a trip to Econofoods and I decided to try a different shampoo product, L’Oreal’s’ Kérastase. I’ve taken a couple showers thus far with the Kérastase Resistance Reinforcing And Refinishing Shampoo and I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised, my hair feels silky and doesn’t look as grey as usual. The retail price is $32 per bottle plus tax, which in Northfield works out to roughly $35. Presuming this shampoo is good for 9 uses, as it contains 8.5 ounces of liquid, the cost per wash is $3.89. However, since this expense is not tax deductible and I am paying for it from my dining hall paychecks, it would require me to earn probably $40 pre-tax to buy the shampoo, so the real cost would be $4.44 per wash.

As a relatively well-informed customer, I can analyze my choices through my opportunity cost. Previously, I was buying shampoo at $14 a bottle. This bottle, “Head & Shoulders 2 In 1 Dry Scalp Care Shampoo” is also significantly larger, 23.7 ounces to be exact. This would allow me to take 24 showers before having to refill or buy a new item. This means that my personal cost per wash for a bottle of Head and Shoulders is  $0.58 or $16 for a bottle after tax and thus, actually $0.67 per use.

So, based on my own personal opportunity cost for these two products, the Kerastase is 663% more expensive than its alternative Head and Shoulders brand, both of which clean my hair in a similar fashion and do not have any main significance, which sets them apart. I must thus ask myself, do I enjoy the Kérastase shampoo 6 times more than the Head and Shoulders shampoo?  I personally think they are equally as good so I have to conclude that the price difference does not compensate for the almost non-existent difference in performance of both products.

Next weekend, I should then naturally go back to buying Head and Shoulders, but I know won’t. Despite this economic reasoning to which I have subjected myself and the fact that the Kérastase has eaten up more than 50% of my weekly income, my indifference curve for French products is unbelievably biased. I am emotionally attached and put trust into the L’Oreal shampoo for the only reason that the writing on the bottle is in French as I find security and comfort in buying a French product. I have also somehow convinced myself to believe that the high price grants this shampoo properties, which the other brand does not have. Even though L’Oreal may just be using its marketing skills to trick me into making this exact decision, my indifference curve puts me at the point where the y-axis (with units of quantity of L’Oreal shampoo) intersects my budget constraint. I will thus go to Econo this weekend again, to once again purchase my over-priced shampoo.

The New York Times Article “Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and lately, Coding” highlights the new role that programming is finding for itself in education, from Kindergarten through the twelfth grade.

We can first start to think of the supply of education by the schools and the demand generated by parents. As technology keeps on taking a larger role in our everyday lives, coding to “many parents […] coding [has started] look[ing] less like an extracurricular activity and more like a basic life skill”. In addition, we live in a time where children’s attention is much too often focused on iPads, TVs, consoles, etc….the list is endless, electronics are seen as a parents’ biggest foes. However, “parents love the idea of giving children something to do with computers that they see as productive”, which has lead to the surge of demand of CS (computer science) programs.

As parents have increased their demand of CS curriculums, schools have increased their supply of CS courses, “Chicago’s public school system hopes to have CS as a graduation requirement at all of its 187 high schools in five years”. Competition between suppliers has also lead to this change in education. Free after-school classes have started being offered, which attracts a larger amount of students and generates an increase the school’s reputation, attracting parents such as the “director of engineering at Twitter”. Another reason for suppliers to further develop their CS programs is external funding; some teachers even worry about the technology “industry’s heavy role” in shaping education due to financial support.

Yes, the role of technology has increased in our lives, but why have parents really started to value CS and why has there been such involvement on all levels to promote CS instead, and not only by suppliers. The reason is the opportunity cost of CS when thinking of children’s futures. CS according to the interviewees “might someday lead to a great job or even instant riches” and that is what children would be losing by not having learned programing. The job opportunities, the happiness generated by being able to learn while being on a computer, that of the parents who see their spend their children waste less time, who then see themselves as more successful parents, the specific skills which CS teaches and its overarching importance in our society are some of the principle factors which contribute to its unmatched opportunity cost.