Rosemead Kiwanis Club
"Serving the Community Since 1945"
FAX OF
LIFE
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Rosemead Kiwanis Club "Serving the Community Since 1945" |
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FAX OF LIFE
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The Fax of Life
A weekly inspiration, courtesy of the Kiwanis Club of Scott's Valley
(distributed free by the Kiwanis Club of Rosemead, CA - rosemeadkiwanis.org )
August 03, 2009
Volume 14, Number 42
THE CLASS THAT FAILED
An economics professor at a local college makes the
statement that he has never failed a single student,
but once failed an entire class.
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That class had insisted in unison that the
incentives of capitalism were unjust and beyond
repair, that pure socialism could work and was
superior – with it 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 based on socialism. For
the rest of the semester all grades will be averaged
and everyone will receive the same thing. “
After the first test, the grades were averaged and
everyone got a B. Some murmuring was heard among
the students who traditionally studied hard. They
were upset; still, the students who studied little
were happy.
When the second test rolled around, the students who
studied little had studied even less; the ones
who usually studied hard had decided they wanted a free ride too,
so they also studied little. The second test average
was a D! Now no one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, no one was studying
and the average was an F. There were seven more tests
that semester, but the scores never increased as
bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in
hard feelings. It turned out that no one would study
simply for the benefit of
everyone else.
All the students failed, to their great surprise. The professor
then pointed out that all such experiments in
socialism, however utopian on paper, have ultimately failed
in practice
for the same reason: the absence of incentive as a
motivator. When the reward is great, great
effort is inspired. But when the reward is taken
away and redistributed by a third force (such as
government) few, if anyone, will try or want to
succeed.
--- Anonymous
Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time. All of its Clubs are independently-run community service groups.
The Kiwanis Club of Scott's Valley normally meets at the Heavenly Café in Scott's Valley, CA, on Wednesdays at 7 am - see the Scott's Valley Kiwanis website @ http://svkiwanis.org for details; The Kiwanis Club of Rosemead normally meets on Thursdays at 12:10 in Rosemead, CA - see the Rosemead Kiwanis website @ http://rosemeadkiwanis.org for confirmation and directions. Visitors are welcome to join meetings of either club anytime.
There is no charge to anyone for receiving the "Fax," which today is circulated by e-mail rather than literally by FAX. If you have been encouraged in any way by the message, pass it on by saying something encouraging to someone else during the week. To subscribe to the free weekly RKC Reporter, of which the "Fax" is an attachment, simply email kcrosemead@aol.com,
Neither the Scott's Valley or Rosemead Kiwanis Clubs make any representations as to the accuracy of quotes or actions attributed to named individuals; material selected for the Fax of Life comes from a variety of sources and is chosen based solely on its presumed inspirational value to readers.