Socialism’s First Casualties

“When discussing socialism with students, I use the example of grades to make my point. I explain that a socialist grading system would involve computing the class average for the final exam and giving all students—no matter how well or how poorly they scored individually—the same grade: the class average. Of course the better students are appalled at the thought of using such a system. In fact, only the worst students in class—those who admittedly would probably fail the final exam—opt for the socialist grading system. And this is one of the most fundamental problems with socialism—it rewards the non-producers in society and punishes the producers.”