The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible - Bastiat Institute

Chapter 27 • According to Need 155
and go on strike! ‘Shining a path to democracy’? No way! What
they practice in class is autocracy.”
Lady Tweed bowed her head humbly, “.... you have arrived at
this milestone in your life. Each of us realizes that ours is but
one small voice in the great human chorus. We know that fi erce
competition and a ruthless, greedy struggle to reach the top is
unsuitable in today’s world. For us, the noblest virtue is sacrifi ce.
Sacrifi ce to the needs of others, to the multitudes who are less
fortunate ...”
The women almost shrieked with delight. “Look at those students
go! What a gold mine of contradictions! ‘Great human chorus’?
‘Sacrifi ce’? In school, they were always taught to excel, to be
their own personal best. And Tweed, herself, is no slouch. She’s
the loudest, most demanding and unscrupulous of the lot. She has
succeeded in clawing her way into the leadership by every cunning
trick imaginable. These students know that they didn’t get to this
stage today by sacrifi cing their grades to the incompetent students
around them.”
Jonathan just could not fi gure this out. “You mean, in school
the students are told to excel personally. And yet, upon graduation,
Lady Tweed tells them to sacrifi ce themselves to others?”
“Now you’ve got it,” replied the woman. “Lady Tweed preaches
a changed world for graduates. From each according to ability and
to each according to need. That’s their future.”
“Couldn’t they try to be consistent and teach the same thing
before and after graduation?” asked Jonathan.
“The authorities are working on that,” said the woman. “The
schools function on an old-fashioned tradition that awards high
grades for the best performance. Next year they plan to reverse the
grading system. They plan to use incentives and rewards to prepare
students for the new reality. Grades will be awarded on the basis of
need rather than achievement. The worst students will get A’s and
the best student will get F’s. They say the worst students have more
need of good grades than the best students.”
Shaking his head, Jonathan repeated her words to make sure he
had heard them correctly, “The worst students will get A’s and the
best students will get F’s?”
“That’s right,” she nodded.