This came to me via the network of my friends who swap silly jokes and anecdotes from around the web. I thought it was rather amusing and contained a truth:
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class.
That class had insisted that Obama's 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 Obama's plan". 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 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.
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, 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.
Sums it all up in a nutshell.
Posted by: JuliaM | Tuesday, 14 July 2009 at 14:23
Sums it up in a nutshell. Neither Para 3 nor Para 2 is in Afghanistan. The "nutshell" is an illusion.
IED's and flag-drapped coffins notwithstanding - yes. It's an adequate "sum-up."
Contained in a "nut" shell.
It's really easy (admittedly, I don't know whether JuliaM has as many email addresses in Afghanistan as I have - but).
But a "nutshell" should be an accepted defense.
Posted by: JK | Tuesday, 14 July 2009 at 15:57
Steady on, 'JK', you're confusing me and I'm already confused enough!
Posted by: David Duff | Tuesday, 14 July 2009 at 16:08
I think Afghanistan is the new racism. It can be applied to everything, and any conversation...
Posted by: JuliaM | Tuesday, 14 July 2009 at 16:42
Ah but with Socialism you also get a "get out of jail free" card. Simply rewrite history so that the five year plan is fulfilled
"he thought as he re-adjusted the Ministry of Plenty's figures, it was not even forgery. It was merely the substitution of one piece of nonsense for another. Most of the material that you were dealing with had no connexion with anything in the real world, not even the kind of connexion that is contained in a direct lie. Statistics were just as much a fantasy in their original version as in their rectified version. A great deal of the time you were expected to make them up out of your head. For example, the Ministry of Plenty's forecast had estimated the output of boots for the quarter at 145 million pairs. The actual output was given as sixty-two millions. Winston, however, in rewriting the forecast, marked the figure down to fifty-seven millions, so as to allow for the usual claim that the quota had been overfulfilled. In any case, sixty-two millions was no nearer the truth than fifty-seven millions, or than 145 millions. Very likely no boots had been produced at all. Likelier still, nobody knew how many had been produced, much less cared. All one knew was that every quarter astronomical numbers of boots were produced on paper, while perhaps half the population of Oceania went barefoot. And so it was with every class of recorded fact, great or small. Everything faded away into a shadow-world in which, finally, even the date of the year had become uncertain."
Thus with grade inflation the deterioration is not only disguised but is negated. Lecturers exceed their quotas and Socialism is once again vindicated.
Orwell also predicted in 1984 that the state would also produce the ersatz rebellion. Thus we never quite know if O'Brien is real or not. In many ways your email seems a bit false. After all the declining grades needs time to pan out and Obama has only been president for six months. Barely enough time given that the story is written in the past tense. In other words, a brilliant story but probably apocryphal.
Posted by: TDK | Friday, 17 July 2009 at 12:51
Oh dear, 'TDK', you have touched a nerve! I have never read "1984". I am both ashamed and irritated at my idleness, particularly as I read your quote above and note the superbly clear, crisp English. At least, thanks to your link, I can read it without risking the 'Memsahib's' wrath by buying yet another book!
As you would expect with Orwell, he hits his target with pin-point precision.
Posted by: David Duff | Friday, 17 July 2009 at 13:16
According to Snopes this story goes back at least to the early 1980's. Not that its essential message is any less true....
Posted by: pst314 | Friday, 17 July 2009 at 14:32
Thanks, 'Pst', and welcome to D&N, you're probably right - the old 'uns are often the best 'uns!
Posted by: David Duff | Friday, 17 July 2009 at 15:23