Is this teacher a genius?

Question

Is this man truly a genius?
 
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
 
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on this plan". All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A.... (substituting grades for dollars - something closer to home and more readily understood by all).
 
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who
studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied
hard 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.
 
As the tests proceeded, 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.
 
To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward
is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

? · Answer

To answer your question -- NO!

? · Answer

Make America Good Again, MAGA.

Jeff S · Answer

Sounds like anti-socialists right wing propaganda!

A made up story to paint ALL socialism as bad!

Here's 2 great social programs that benefitted America by 2 great Republican Presidents;

Eisenhower created our interstate highway system!

Teddy Roosevelt created the national parks and built the Panama canal!

Anonymous · Answer

Did he say the working classes will rise up?

Professor · Answer

Your analogy is overly simplified and based on false perceptions of human behavior. There is an exampole if true socialism at work. Study the history of Catalonia.

? · Answer

So in the end did the students even get a chance to retake their failed tests?

Anonymous · Answer

Do you send money to cash-strapped Nigerian princes on a regular basis?

ideogenetic · Answer

Your question is an old, Conservative, urban legend that emerged from conservatives not understanding basic economics.

If that professor actually existed, he shouldn't have been teaching economics since he doesn't understand the foundation of the discipline: scarcity.

Grades are not scarce the same way as air, water, jobs, health-care, etc. You can issue an unlimited supply of grades. His premise was fatally flawed.

In a closed economy characterized by anything other than unlimited resources, what one person possesses is taken (theft or otherwise) from another. Therefore, the dominant social problem is the just distribution of scarce resources.

Entropy · Answer

I've heard that anecdote. I don't think it was ever actually confirmed that it happened. I'd love to hear if it did, but until then I would suspect that this is just an urban legend. If that actually happened, those kids would get that teacher fired.

But it's a very good metaphor for one of the reasons why socialism is a bad idea.

Anonymous · Answer

Yeah, I'd like to see a link to but being part of a family that lived under socialism, that's pretty much what it was like.

Is this teacher a genius?

14 Answers