I’m a fan of these Campus Reform clips but I have to admit that when I first saw this I wasn’t sure it was a good premise. The idea here is to find some students on the campus of Florida International University who support socialism (not that hard to do it seems) and then introduce a twist. The twist in this clip is to apply the concept of ‘sharing the wealth’ to the student’s own GPA. Would they be willing to share their own high grades with someone who isn’t doing as well in school?
Again, I wasn’t convinced this was a reasonable comparison until one of the respondents replied, “That’s completely different because I’m, like, studying all day for my grade.” Of course, the common denominator here is time. Those students doing well are working hard and putting in hours with the books. Those students who aren’t might be goofing off or skipping classes.
Another student tells Cabot Philips, “I mean, I sacrifice a lot to get my GPA. I don’t go out as much as I’d like to but that’s for a greater goal in the future…So no, I wouldn’t sacrifice my own…time for somebody else who didn’t want to make those same sacrifices.”
As Cabot Philips says, “What’s the difference between earning a high GPA and wanting to give it away but then earning a lot of money and also not wanting to give that away?”
Later in the clip, one student seems to get to the essential point of all this. “For me, having the same opportunity is what is fair, not the same outcome.” He continued, “Because if I work harder than you and I get a better result then it’s only fair that I get a better grade…”
Yes, exactly. So this actually turns out to be one of the better Campus Reform clips. Listen to all these socialist-curious college students espousing the virtues of work and personal responsibility:
