Interesting E-Mail: A Lesson On Socialism

A Lesson on Socialism

An economics professor said he had never failed a single student before but had, once, failed an entire class. The class had insisted that socialism worked - and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer for all, for society. The professor then said ok, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism.

He said that all grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A. After the first test the grades were averaged and everyone was given a B. The students who studied hard were upset, and the students who studied little were happy. But, as the second test rolled around, the students who hadn't studied much for the first test had studied even less, and the ones who studied hard weren't motivated to study hard again, and they decided they wanted a free ride too; so they studied little. The second Test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame, name calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for anyone else. All failed .... and the professor told them that the socialism they wanted would ultimately fail, as they had, because the reward of success normally goes to those that work harder, but when government takes the reward away; few will try so no one will succeed.

.... I think this proves an interesting point ... it would be bad if we become a socialist nation ... now i'm not saying that we are heading that way ... just my thoughts if we were to turn into that ....

what are your thoughts?

[edit on 15-4-2009 by baseball101]

I completely agree it's just plain common sense. Increased reward for increased workload and increased risk. It's human nature to want fairness. Well we can't all have the same job. A doctor gets paid more than a grocery clerk. A company ceo gets paid more than the janitor staff.

What I see happening in America is the incentive to work hard that was previously getting more money will change to FEAR of the govt.

reply to post by baseball101


I'll reflect on that when I have my hip replaced free of charge on the National Health Service on 4th May 2009

I don't think socialism as explained by your email correspondent is ever going to be introduced to the USA (which is where I assume you are).

It's more the European social democracy model which you might end up with (once your nation has paid off its enormous debts) with the state taking on those vital interests which concern us all & with all the rest being left to the private sector in a mixed economy.

Seems to work for the rest of the world.

Why not the USA ?

the idea behind socialism, as opposed to communism, is not to equalise the entire population but to offer a safety net or level the playing field.

Europeans operate socialism perfectly (in)competently, the idea being to offer a safety net to all, because we all may need it, but to position this net somewhere between a decent standard of living and poverty.

also socialism, as i understand it in the european model, attempts to establish a level playing field where it can, a child has no control over its parents circumstances, it is seen as the responsibility of society to allow each child a chance to reach their potential and in the long run this benefits all.

straight capatalism without the requirement, imposed by society, for responsibility clearly doesn't work. socialism is a model that allows this requirement but doesn't go so far as to be communism as such.


[edit on 15/4/09 by pieman]

double post, sorry.

[edit on 15/4/09 by pieman]

No child left behind, lol...

This is what I think: Capitalist propaganda.

People in socialism are paid according to how productive they are, I vividly remember that I was.

If you believe that those who are in possession of almost all the money in this country are not capable in creating brainwashing propaganda machine in order to perpetuate their wealthiness you might be already a victim of that propaganda...

This E-mail is one of the smaller investment they make in order to brainwash the sheeple (delivered to you by one my favorite advertisers in cyberspace: SPAMMERS)

Are you saying that government institutions like US postal service does not encourage productivity and does not pay their employees accordingly ?

Are you saying that those who work hard for US postal service are actually working for those who are sitting on their butt all day ?

I know quite a few of their employees and I they told me that they get rid of those who are less productive (plain lazy) much faster than many privately owned companies in USA do...

reply to post by baseball101
this is one of the best threads I've read here. you've found a real life example of why socialism would fail here and I entirely agree. Excellent post and very well studied.

reply to post by baseball101
This is one of the best threads I've read here. you've found a real life example of why socialism would fail here and I entirely agree. Excellent post and very well studied.

Wow whoever wrote that email has no idea what socialism is.

Socialism is NOT social programs, it is NOT complete equality of earnings.

It is simply the 'peoples ownership of the means of production', as apposed to private ownership (capitalism) and state/government ownership (nationalism).

The professors test would be totalitarianism, because for one the professor is acting as dictator. In a socialist system the students would have the power to control how their class was ran and organized. If one of the students was failing, and pulling the rest of the class down, then the class would have the power to change that situation by either getting rid of the student, or better yet coming together as a whole to help those who are failing.

But better yet as a class they could get rid of their professor and not allow anyone to dictate class control...

Socialisms

You guys and that chit are NEVER gone get me in yer corner if you keep using that word.

Never

Would rather smoke ya...

Originally posted by mental modulator
Socialisms

You guys and that chit are NEVER gone get me in yer corner if you keep using that word.

Never

Would rather smoke ya...

Aren't we feelin' lil' bit high and almighty today ?

Is "smoking" peeps with different ideas then yours the best you can do ???

You know, they use that solution in Middle East a lot

How about educating yourself a bit on the subject and then coming back and contributing to this thread with something of actual value, pretty please ?

I think i can agree that socialism could never work in the US as long as the vast majority of it's citizens do not even seem to have a primary school level understanding of the dictionary defintion. Perhaps with another few decades ( perhaps centuries, the answers in this thread is based on complete misinformation and ignorance) of education and cultural experience Americans can catch up to Europeans and start solving the legitimate problems that are coupled to the socialist/capitalist synthesis?

Either way i don't think that professor or that class ever existed.


Edit: I don't think Americans are STUPID for not having a better understanding of what socialism is; in fact it's known they have been totally misinformed and propagandized to have this ridiculous view of what even European 'socialist' ( their not) leaning countries are like.


Stellar


[edit on 18-4-2009 by StellarX]

And when you know have found a "real life" situation on how socialism fails i must say then also God´s words fails. So dont love your neighbour and dont help those who cant help them self, in fact just only help yourself, that seems to be all those anti social peoples tool of winning.

Best regards.

Loke.

Ps.

In fact also, dont contribute to these forums either since that is also a socialistic idea to get things done with the help of all...

Whilst I'm not doubting baseball101's claim to have received such an email, I am doubting whether this incident actually occurred.

Now where I come from, professors are usually pretty intelligent people, usually have a doctorate in their particular field. I'm loathe to succumb to lazy stereotypes about America being 'stupid', so I lean towards America being no different than anywhere else in that respect.

I have a genuine problem that someone with a very high level of recognised qualifications* working within a university could use such a ridiculously poor analogy within an economics class.

Firstly, I really can't see where the socialism aspect is in this story. How is what is what the professor meant to have done actually 'socialist' in the first place? The only way it can be interpreted as being 'socialist' is by using a definition of 'socialism' that's come from someone whose understanding of socialism is based on McCarthyist scaremongering rather than on any genuine socialist principles.

I think the actual contents of this story are false or, to put it bluntly, lies and scaremongering.

Looking at this objectively, the narrative here reads like an old-fashioned advert for detergent or a cleaning product. An authority figure, here a professor (rather than someone in a lab coat and glasses ), is basically telling the target audience (us the TV viewer or the reader of the email ) that 'science!' (or in this case, 'economics' ) will demonstrate something right or wrong and will do so through the use of everyman figures (the students rather than a housewife washing clothes or dishes and pans ) who are people just like me or you that will you can sympathise/empathise with.

Now who on here believes everything they see on television when it comes to advertising? The vast majority of ATS members would claim they can see through a commercial and see it for what it is. This email is no different. Deny ignorance.

*unless this is one of the 'special' qualifications that you can buy online, which I'm also doubting.