LETTER


Editor,

During a unit on European economy and government, a student asked questions about socialism.

I ran across this video on YouTube https://youtu.be/YEa8DpheXkM and decided to conduct a socialism experiment with my 7th graders. It was such a success that I continued it until I retired (about 10-12 years). My goal with this experiment was not to tell seventh graders what to think, just that they needed to think about. As future voters, they needed to be able to make educated votes about their future.

Over the years issues of socialism came up during presidential and congressional campaigns (Medicare for all, free college) — and became part of our class conversations. Students discussed and debated the issues; their opinions were valued. We invited a former resident of Canada to share her thoughts on socialized medicine.

In the end, the general consensus was that socialism would only work in a utopian society-- which does not exist. Students argued in favor of capitalism. They worked hard for their grades--they proved to themselves that they would benefit from their efforts. Even if they liked their classmates and wanted what was best for them, they were unwilling to work for the good of the group. But, they were willing to coach and encourage each other in finding the answers they needed.


The experiment

“All of you have a job to do- we are going to work for the good of the group to make sure that everyone is successful in this job. In socialism the wealthy are taxed at a higher rate to help those who do not have as much. Since we can not tax you with money we will tax your grades. Okay? What do you need to show success?

A passing grade--

What is a passing grade? A passing grade is 70%- so anything higher than 70% is a bonus right? We want everyone to be successful- so we should try this experiment.”

For five days we averaged the daily grades. They all received the same grade- minus 10 earns a B, minus 0 earn B, minus 5 earns a B. etc.

  • The first day students were reminded that they had 40 minutes to complete an assignment that usually took them 25 minutes- due at the end of class- completed or not. Every student was required to do their own work- no sharing answers or assistance.
  • The second day they were handed back their work with the total missed and the class average grade. The look of shock when students saw the scores was very revealing. We discussed our "experiment" each day. Initially the middle-of-the-road students were okay with the class averages because they had not really sacrificed that much. Students with more mistakes felt guilty for bringing down the average and worked harder on day two. Those who usually had the top scores were angry and tried to convince others to do the job.
  • By day three the students were frustrated and begging to end the experiment and get the grade they had earned.
  • Day four efforts decreased, the average grade went down, and the A students asked, “Why should we pay higher ‘taxes’/points so someone else could be lazy?”
  • By day five the upper students were slacking a bit and the daily average had dropped to a C.

This was a great experience- Even students with lower grades thought it was unfair to receive grades that they didn’t deserve and agreed that we need to all do our part and be responsible to provide for ourselves. The teacher/government should not be taxing the wealthy/A-work to give to those who are not willing to do the work.

In the end, everyone was relieved that this experiment was on paper only--they used the democratic process and decided not to enter these average “grades” in the gradebook.