Relevant Costs and the Story of Jonah
I had a makeup class today in accounting and as with all our other sessions in this class, our professor was late again for an hour. I think she purposely does that because her lectures last for only an hour so we had to wait an hour for her to get to class. Most days, we wait about half an hour for her to get to class and give her lecture in an hour.
Now that I have been able to reflect on why that certain professor is always late, it somehow makes sense to me. Though most of our other professors are on time for their classes, I usually get bored halfway through their lectures and many people have mentally checked out by then as well. I heard before that the optimum number of hours to present a certain topic or lecture would be 25 minutes because your audience's attention is focused on you but afterwards, their attention span gradually declines. Our accounting professor's strategy is an interesting one because she comes to class late, gives a one-hour lecture generally having only a few slides in her presentation so as not to bombard us with a lot of information, then dismisses the class.
Today, I was surprised when my professor, toward the end of her lecture, made mention of Jonah's story from the Bible. She was giving an example about a guy, Steve, who was fishing for leisure and caught two fish which he brought home at the end of the day. Then Steve's accountant wife presented him with a list of costs associated with his fishing endeavor since our topic was about relevant costs. Given all the costs, she calculated that Steve's two fish cost 1,650 pesos or about 33 dollars which we thought was quite unusual and overpriced for such a commodity.
In the middle of her example, she brought up Jonah's story which surprised me because she didn't seem the sort and the fact that our university is a nonsectarian one and in most universities nowadays, the truth about Jesus Christ, God, and the Bible are being thrown out the window. So she told the story about Jonah and the "whale." Of course, when I read through Jonah, I found out that the Bible didn't really specify the type of fish that swallowed Jonah, it only referred to it as a "big fish." Then, our professor explained that there was scientific evidence that such a fish exists at the deepest part of the sea and it was called a giant grouper.
Having said all these, she returned to her example, and said that since we had no information on what kind of fish Steve caught and what its size, weight, and other qualities were, it would be too hasty for us to say that what Steve caught was too expensive and that he should stop fishing. Moreover, she told us that the main point of Steve's wife preparing her list of costs was not to make Steve realize that his excursions are too costly rather she wanted to make Steve realize that she wanted to spend time with him. So the lesson, our professor told us, was that not all financial information or analyses with regard to relevant costs are actually relevant. Many people also fail to identify their actual problem and instead target only symptoms of a deeper problem.
Now that I have been able to reflect on why that certain professor is always late, it somehow makes sense to me. Though most of our other professors are on time for their classes, I usually get bored halfway through their lectures and many people have mentally checked out by then as well. I heard before that the optimum number of hours to present a certain topic or lecture would be 25 minutes because your audience's attention is focused on you but afterwards, their attention span gradually declines. Our accounting professor's strategy is an interesting one because she comes to class late, gives a one-hour lecture generally having only a few slides in her presentation so as not to bombard us with a lot of information, then dismisses the class.
Today, I was surprised when my professor, toward the end of her lecture, made mention of Jonah's story from the Bible. She was giving an example about a guy, Steve, who was fishing for leisure and caught two fish which he brought home at the end of the day. Then Steve's accountant wife presented him with a list of costs associated with his fishing endeavor since our topic was about relevant costs. Given all the costs, she calculated that Steve's two fish cost 1,650 pesos or about 33 dollars which we thought was quite unusual and overpriced for such a commodity.
In the middle of her example, she brought up Jonah's story which surprised me because she didn't seem the sort and the fact that our university is a nonsectarian one and in most universities nowadays, the truth about Jesus Christ, God, and the Bible are being thrown out the window. So she told the story about Jonah and the "whale." Of course, when I read through Jonah, I found out that the Bible didn't really specify the type of fish that swallowed Jonah, it only referred to it as a "big fish." Then, our professor explained that there was scientific evidence that such a fish exists at the deepest part of the sea and it was called a giant grouper.
Having said all these, she returned to her example, and said that since we had no information on what kind of fish Steve caught and what its size, weight, and other qualities were, it would be too hasty for us to say that what Steve caught was too expensive and that he should stop fishing. Moreover, she told us that the main point of Steve's wife preparing her list of costs was not to make Steve realize that his excursions are too costly rather she wanted to make Steve realize that she wanted to spend time with him. So the lesson, our professor told us, was that not all financial information or analyses with regard to relevant costs are actually relevant. Many people also fail to identify their actual problem and instead target only symptoms of a deeper problem.
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