A friend, Wayne Kotter, recently shared a story where a college economics professor stated, “I had never failed a single student; until recently, I failed an entire class.”
This professor’s class had insisted that socialism works and that we should let our current president give it a try. They believed that with socialism, no one would be poor or rich- it is a great equalizer.
This professor told the class they would have “an experiment on socialism.”
His plan suggested that all grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade. According to the students, this would mean no one would fail, yet no one would receive an “A” either.
After the first test, the grades were averaged, and the entire class received a “B.” The students who studied hard were upset, and those who studied very little obviously were happy.
By the time the second test rolled around, the students who had studied very little had studied even less. The students who had studied hard had decided they wanted a free ride, so they studied less.
The second test average was a “D.” No one was happy. Not surprisingly, the third test averaged an “F.” The scores never increased as bickering, blame, and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings, and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
All failed, to their great surprise. The professor told them that socialism would also fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when the government takes all the rewards away, no one will try or want to succeed.
This story is very interesting and comes with arguably little long-term devastation. A large-scale experiment with our country’s future is harder to stomach. Aren’t there some great examples for us to make an educated decision on the direction of our collective futures?
We truly do have the best system; we just need to let it operate as it would naturally!
Jaren