The Economics Professor

I got this in my email this week from my husband's friend and I love what it says. Hope you enjoy it as well!

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 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.
Could not be any simpler than that.



I love this email because I have a problem with not allowing our children to compete in competitions. Some that I know think that the "all should win" scenario is best, but I don't. How are kids going to learn that you don't always win at everything? I want my children to succeed at what they do, but I do not put false hope in them saying, "You are going to win--no one else can beat you", because frankly, that is lying to your child.


Someone may come along and beat them and win. Then they look at you and think, why did you lie to me? I simply tell my children to strive and do their best and in the end, if they are satisified with the results, then they have won already--whether they receive an award or not. We push for the winning position, but if it is not granted, we are not let down. I want them to try their hardest.


It's like Paul says in the Bible--we push on toward the prize. If prizes were not important, then why does it talk about running a race and winning a prize in the Bible? Even back then there was a reward for finishing and winning the race and that prize is Jesus. There was a goal--a mark--that we are to aim for. That is how I want my kids to view life as well!