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Comment by genericuser | Hacker News Reader

Opportunity costs do not make things bad. They can make things worse than an alternative or better than an alternative.

If the person choosing what to do with their life is able to see an existing opportunity which is better than education then they should choose it, why would they not?

But if they are unable to see such opportunities then choosing to become more educated is not a bad choice provided as is the case in this situation that it does not present an additional financial burden.

One could even argue that the set of options one should consider when weighing opportunity cost should only be composed of the options to which the decision maker is aware (can reasonably be expected to become aware) of.

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>But if they are unable to see such opportunities then choosing to become more educated is not a bad choice provided as is the case in this situation that it does not present an additional financial burden.

You aren't taking into consideration opportunity costs. I spend 4 years at school to get a Spanish degree that doesn't cost anything for me to go. Now I have a Spanish degree and I have exactly the same job as I could have gotten before the degree. I've wasted 4 years where I could have been making a salary, pursuing hobbies, raising children, etc.

We shouldn't be like:

1) Take a class/get a degree in anything with no plan whatsoever.

2) ???

3) PROFIT!

No, I am. But you don't seem to understand the difference between hindsight and opportunity cost. (Either that or are trolling me, in which case success for you I guess)

I specifically said: "is able to see an existing opportunity which is better than education then they should choose it, why would they not?"

So you chose Education presumably because you thought getting a Spanish degree was a better option than those others, therefore you viewed the other options as having the opportunity cost. In which case you may have been bad at estimating benefit, or perhaps the choices you were trying to value were simply too unpredictable, but you followed the idea of opportunity cost correctly.

Or even worse you knew those options were better and you chose an option you recognized as worse, in which case WHY?

Opportunity cost is not a synonym for hindsight it is about weighing two decisions with information you have available (or can have) at the time.

Edit: Also now you know Spanish which should bring you as a person some level of enjoyment, and is therefore a benefit. If not I wonder why you would of kept studying it.

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