I don't believe ANY human can run 200 yds in 8 seconds. Did ya do the math? I get 51 mph.
This is an invalid comparison as it relates to the actual performance of the two boys rather than their race. Affirmative Action isn't based on performance it is based on race counting.
Communism works in a professional military, because the servicemembers know what they're getting into, they join voluntarily, and if they decide that they don't like it, they can get out when their enlistment ends. That is the only way that you can have people surrender their freedoms, without a backlash against the government or a total crumbling of the economy. Communism does not work outside military establishments.
Communism stifles the creativity and drive of the individual. There is a reason the United States is so productive. Millions of entrepreneurs risk their capital and work 60-80 hours a week to produce, expand their business, and make a good life for their family. Why would anyone work and sacrifice so much if the system took most of it away?
ping
That would depend on how close the next track meet is.
On paper is the only place Communism works. The USSR controlled one sixth of the land surface of the Earth, they didn’t lack resources. Communist counties are poor and backward because of Communism not in spite of it.
So one student gave me this analogy from another teacher as an argument for Affirmative Action. Two boys are running. One is doing his very best at 8 sec. per 200 yards. The other needs to learn proper form but is doing his best at 8 1/2 secs. Which one gets the chance to be coached by the best? The one who has already reached his peak or the other who could improve much more after learning proper technique?
That’s what’s great here in America. In a free, market driven economy it’s not a zero sum game, both boys can get the “best” coaching if they have potential. An old bromide that seems to apply here: If a horse wants to run, someone will ride her.
"All the countries which tried it (Russia, China, etc.) were backward countries. She thought it might work in more working class countries."
It appears to work in countries with successful industrial infra-structure that the communists can pilfer. Not even Hitler took over successful private firms, like Krupp, Mauser, Porsche, etc. That way the prosperity and jobs continue and the totalitarians take the credit.
Tell your students we already do have a strained form of communism w/in our classrooms [which matches your above statement]. It's called dumbing down our students.
Educators aim at the lowest common denominater, thereby punishing the students at the top of the heap and slowing 'em all down, lest the self-esteem of some students is harmed. Actually, a pure form of communism might even be an improvement to the present classroom structure: At least then, all students would (in theory) be treated equal instead of trying of bring some students down to the level of those at the bottom. :)
Bump - communism and why I never vote (D).
These like minds always think alike.
Regarding the 2 boys running.
Capitalism encourages everyone to run as fast as they can because you get rewarded for running faster. Communism may be more "fair" but most everyone runs slower due to lack of incentive.
Also capitalism will train the slower boy if they think he has potential. In the NBA this happens all the time as a high schooler is often drafted ahead of a more accomplished college player.
Get and read the book "Ism's" for an understanding of the differences between capitalism, socialism, communism and fascism. Understanding each of them will help you debate any merit or debunk the myths. It should be in your book store on campus. You can also look it up in the net.
Some random thoughts:
Affirmative Action doesn't determine who gets to be "coached by the best". It determines that the slower student wins the race, or at worst, ties the other student, before learning the proper form. It bypasses other runners who have already proven they are faster.
In the arena of education, the slower student has a place at the best school, at the expense of those who actually score higher, robbing them of the reward of their achievement, before it is PROVEN he can run as fast, even with the proper training.
The American way is to point out that he doesn't have the proper form, and provide him with opportunity, but he is the one who has the responsibility to make the improvement.
Affirmative Action "gives" him success without having earned it, by denying the success of others who have proven it.
Remedial courses can be taken to help the slower student prove he can run as fast, without "giving" him the prize before he proves he can run faster. It further robs him of the experience of achievement!!
Flat-earth vegetarianism (my first political science teacher's favorite faux ideology), or ANY OTHER IDEOLOGY would work if it was placed in an ideal environment. Unfortunately, the only environment that any political system gets to operate in is the real world. Communism and its little brother socialism have failed in EVERY country that has ever attempted it.
In Starship Troopers, Robert Heinlein said that the only reason any political structure succeeds and perpetuates itself is because it works. Capitalism and democracy work. Communism and socialism don't. Period.
I have heard this comment made from various Liberal/Socilaist sources. If my memory serves me right Marx himself postulated that the Communist system would work the best if tried in an advanced economy. More specifically, I think that he wanted it to be tried in Germany and that many Communists were dissappointed that Russia was the first place that it was instituted.
Well............It was tried in EAST GERMANY after WWII by Stalin. It didn't work.
If you'd like to have it, send me a Freepmail.
the answer is, under free enterprise, the market will attract enough coaches.
The only place "Communism" can work is on a scale small enough that it can be reasonably assumed that all involved actually want to pull their own weight, and where the contribution of a given group member has a significant impact on overall results. A family can work like that; an entire country, never. It's too easy to let the system carry you, and no incentive to try harder (or at all).