Time. Energy. Money.
These are the costs of knowledge. If you look at where you invest your time, your energy, and your money, you will find the areas you think are important to have knowledge about.
When I was younger, I invested all of my time, energy, and money into playing basketball. And for that investment, I became the greatest left bench player at my high school.
Maybe not the best investment of time, energy, and money, but it was definitely my focus until I went off to college and decided to take a different route.
As a youngster, I really didn’t think about the cost of that knowledge too much. I just loved playing basketball.
When you accept that there is a cost to knowledge, then you will start to think about how to spend the currency for that cost, especially when you realize that the currency for knowledge is your time, your energy, and your money.
And if you also think of education as an investment, you will start to think about how you invest in education in a way to get the most return from that investment.
And if you are a parent, then you are thinking about what areas of education will be the best for your child, and what areas you can invest in to get the most return.
So let me tell you about one way to get a great return on your investment of education for your child.
I just had an opportunity to reflect on the areas I invest most of my time, energy, and money.
And it’s not in learning about cars – or how to change the battery in my car, which just died a couple of days ago as I write this.
Now, I love the freedom of cars. I like the having a car to take me wherever I need to go, and I enjoy driving. Always have.
But I don’t know about how they work, and quite frankly, I don’t really care to. I just want the car to do what the car is supposed to do: take me places.
So it’s really inconvenient when my car decides to die.
Did I forget to change out the battery after five years of use as I had been instructed to do when I bought the previous battery? Yes, yes I did.
But responsibility aside, I had a dilemma. Luckily, the car died in my garage, so I wasn’t stuck in Chicago (which I had driven to about three days before this incident).
But I didn’t know how to change a battery, and usually I am quite comfortable paying somebody who has spent the time understanding cars to fix these things for me. That was a cost I was willing to pay to not have the knowledge of cars.
But did I really want to spend the time and money to get the car to the dealership so they could change my battery? Or could I do it myself?
I looked up a video on YouTube to see what it might take. I watched a young lady very clearly give instructions on how to take the battery out of the car. It looked simple enough.
I decided to try it myself. I didn’t have all the right tools, or another battery, so I had to go buy those things, which took time, energy, and money.
Then I proceeded to very carefully watch the video and follow the process. It seemed to go well. Until I lost a nut that was supposed to attach a wire to the battery (which is important, I think).
So I had to go get another nut from the store – which took forever because I did not have the understanding of the difference between metric nuts and whatever non-metric nuts are called. And then the nuts were all different sizes once I figured out the difference, which confused me more.
In my frustration, I did not seek out someone to help me, and I left the store without the nut.
You might be saying to yourself, Mike, didn’t you need that nut to finish the job?
Yes, I did. But I decided to come back in the morning to figure it out – not the most logical step, But I was irritated.
The next morning, I went directly to someone who worked in the store to ask questions. They couldn’t help me, but they got me to someone who could, and in ten minutes, I was heading back to my house in my borrowed car (from my dad) to fix my own car.
After the nut was in place, my car started on the first try – which surprised me!
Mission accomplished. As I reflect on the time, energy, and money spent to get the knowledge of changing my own battery, I’m not sure it was worth it. Maybe if I have to change that battery again in five years it will be, but who knows if I will still have that car?
Now, you might be wondering what all this has to do with learning the law as a teenager through my courses at Law School for Teens.
Think about your child having to approach the legal system like I approached changing a battery. How many of us are really familiar with the legal system and how it works? And how many of us are extremely intimidated or frustrated with processes we don’t understand?
If we can find someone we trust to help us, then we feel better. But what is the cost of finding someone we trust? And if we don’t know anything about the legal process, how do we know what questions to ask?
When I was changing my battery, the only one who was affected was me. If your child has to deal with the legal system, it may affect more than just them. It could affect their families as well.
When you invest in an education about law, you aren’t just investing in knowledge – you are investing in learning to think things through.
As I thought about what to do about my battery, I thought through the whole process, and I weighed the pros and cons. While I needed to buy some tools, having a ratchet set is a good thing for the future because I won’t just use that for my car. I can use it elsewhere as well.
For the time involved, I would’ve had to wait for an extra three days to get my car into my preferred shop (someone I trusted), which I couldn’t afford to do because I had to be places.
And while I knew I would burn some energy in frustration (I really don’t like working with machines that much – they irritate me), I knew it wouldn’t be nearly as bad as waiting too long to get my car into the shop.
I learned that measured way of thinking through studying the law. I took my time, thought through all the angles, and made a thoughtful decision. I didn’t let my irritation at this break in my routine force me to an emotional decision.
My time, energy, and money spent on my legal training helped me make a better decision than if I had not had that training. Thinking like a lawyer bleeds over into your everyday life as well.
Which is why I think the courses from Law School for Teens are worth the investment of your time, energy, and money.
Until next time,
Mike Traywick,
Founder of Law School for Teens