A teacher losing a bet could be a highlight of a student’s day, and that’s just what happened a couple weeks ago when  Mr. Myers had to do 100 pushups in class, making student, Hunter McDaniel very happy.  

It all started when Mariah Butler was writing a story for the Literature section. She was asking Mr. Myers if ending a story with a cliffhanger was ok. He said no, short stories don’t end in cliffhangers, unless there is a follow up story. Hunter McDaniel then argued the point, saying that stories do, and continued to bring up movies and books that had cliffhangers, but were part of a series that eventually did end the conflict, making them not true cliffhangers. They eventually decided to bet when the conversation got intense, Mr. Myers’ head dripping sweat, trying to keep up with McDaniel. Then the other kids in the class were taking sides, with very, very few people on Mr. Myers’ side. Mr. Myers laughed at McDaniel because he thought he was right and Hunter was wrong. McDaniel had brought up a scary movie that ends in a cliffhanger, but Myers argued that the actual problem was solved in the end, taking a win.    

After a while of going back and forth Hunter started explaining a short story that Mr Myers instantly recognized. “I was hoping he couldn’t remember the title,” explained Myers, “because when he started summarizing it, I recognized it and knew that it was indeed one of those rare stories that ends in a cliffhanger.”  The rest of the room was listening to the argument, and Alexis then knew what they were talking about and found the title on the internet. This story, which enabled McDaniel to win the bet, was “The Lady or the Tiger” by Frank Stockton. Mr. Myers realized he was wrong, his heart dropping from his chest. Hunter made him say that he was wrong, and then McDaniel looked at him gloatingly and said “Myers, you owe me and the class 100 pushups.”

Mr. Myers eventually did his 100 pushups in class, but not all at once though. He did 50, then took a break, then 25 and took a break, and then finished before the end of the class. “It’s always a good day when a teacher is proved wrong,” McDaniel said. 

In response, Mr. Myers accepts the fact that he lost a bet to a student. “Well, first of all, what I wanna say is, nobody has any idea how sore my arms were after that. I could barely drive home. Matter of fact I almost got into a car wreck and died, because I couldn’t even grip the steering wheel. It was that bad. I haven’t done that many pushups since I was in the Marine Corps. But besides that, I was happy to honor my commitment, to the bet and to Hunter, and he did prove me wrong. That is a very famous story. It’s usually read in 5th or 6th grade and it’s designed to get kids to think about what choice they would have made. So, yeah, I was happy to conceded the bet and do my 100 pushups.” 

Myers took the loss very well, and Hunter is still enjoying his win and rubbing it in his teacher’s face. McDaniel beat a teacher in a bet, and is feeling absolutely great about it. Mr. Myers was later heard mumbling under his breath…”I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for the internet.”