Sixth Grade teacher’s lesson in socialism

The following appeared in the Casper Star Tribune, March 20, letters to editor.

"I am conducting an experiment in my classroom for the benefit of my pupils. The results so far have been not only telling but also very entertaining.

The children liked the idea behind the story of Robinhood. They seemed to think that President Obama was a modern day Robinhood.

So I proposed that we also share, taking from the haves and giving to the have nots. The children thought that this was wonderful!

I told them that what we will do is average grades in the classroom. Those scoring an A can surely afford to accept a B or a C in order to transfer some of the value of their scores to students that were not doing so well to help them out.

On the first test the average score was a B-. Some students that has studied hard we a bit unhappy, but others that had not studied as hard were very happy.

The average score from the second test was a D. Without the motivation of a reward for their hard study, few of the students bothered to study at all. Those few that did study (and carried the class to the D) were very upset, as were most of the other students whom thought that they would "ride on the coattails" of the harder working students.

I cannot wait for the results of the next test and to see the reaction of the students. This little experiment in socialism is turning out just as expected. However, for my pupils a life lesson is being delivered which they had not anticipated, and that is the real value of this exercise."

Actually, I always felt this way about group or team projects where you received a grade or bonus based not on your own effort, but the group. There usually were at least one or two deadbeats who let others do the work while they complained, showed up late, or slept in.