Good-bye Liberty, Hello Utopia

I’m always telling my kids that school is their job and they should always work hard and do their best. But what if the grades they earned were treated like the wages we earn at our jobs...


Billy was always a good student. All through school he worked hard and earned all A’s except for one B in sixth grade P.E. and ended up finishing middle school as the third highest in his class. It was a sad summer day when his parents announced that they were moving in August from their home in Liberty, Texas to Utopia, just east of San Antonio. They would be settled in just in time for Billy to start high school.

As the school year started, wanting to make a good first impression at the new school, Billy really hit the books hard. The other students didn’t seem to take school too seriously. Billy thought perhaps this would give him just the edge he needed to graduate first in his high school class. He studied every night and always completed his homework assignments on time. On every paper, every assignment, every test he scored 100 percent. That’s what made his parents quite perplexed when after the first grading period his report card showed straight C’s. His parents scheduled a meeting with his teachers to discuss his grades. They took every scrap of paper he had produced showing he had received the highest scores possible on everything.

At the start of the meeting one of the teachers opened stating that after he had spoken to Billy’s parents he did decide to review his grades, as did all the other teachers. All of them realized there was a mistake on Billy’s report card. They presented the revised grades to Billy’s parents. His grades had been changed to all D’s.

“What is the meaning of this?” Billy’s father asked. “I’m holding all Billy’s papers and they all show he received 100 percent on everything. How could he get all D’s with scores like that?” he demanded.

“We had another straight A student, but she transferred out before the end of the grading period. That’s how we mistakenly had given your son a C.”

Perplexed, Billy’s father asked, “Why on earth would the transfer of another student have any impact on my son’s grade?”

“Oh that’s right. You came here from Liberty. You’d don’t understand how the grading system works here in Utopia.” The teacher began to explain, “To make things fair for every body, points are taken away from the ones who have earned more and given to those students who haven’t. The harder you work and more points you earn, the more you have taken away for the benefit of the rest of the students. Isn’t the Utopian school system wonderful? We all hope Billy will keep working hard and getting these wonderful grades.”


I bet if you were Billy or his parents you’d be very ticked off that he is having the fruits of his hard work taken away from him. As crazy as it sounds, this is just how wage earners are treated under the tax system.