Hard work doesn't pay for everyone

Here's something I found on Facebook. I've been thinking about it ever since. I can't let this one go.

"An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan". All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A.... (substituting grades for dollars - something closer to home and more readily understood by all).
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little..
The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. It could not be any simpler than that.
Remember, there IS a test coming up. The 2012 elections."

First of all, regardless of what you think of Obama or socialism, Obama is not a socialist. I used to live in Canada, which is not quite as socialist as Europe, but trust me on this--the US comes nowhere near other developed countries in terms of socialist tendencies. Obama hasn't even tried to put socialist policies in place. The middle class is still diminishing, and the gap between rich and poor is wider than ever. Doesn't sound like socialism to me.
Secondly, hard work and high pay can go together, but often don't. While it's nice to believe that those who put in the hours and finish what they start will be rewarded, it's often not true. Most rich people become that way by owning business or owning property. Some inherited their money. I'm not saying it's easy to own a business or to take care of rental property. If you do either of these, your day is most likely filled with chaos, deadlines, and hassles. What I am saying, though, is that if you work at Walmart or prepare taxes or clean buildings for a living, getting ahead is difficult. This is especially true if you're a woman or a minority. There's enough discrimination out there that even if you work hard, your pay doesn't necessarily match your work. Men who are in charge tend to promote other men, even if they don't think they're discriminating.
Third, a college class is hardly a microcosm of American society. A typical college class is made up of young, single people with few demands upon their time. There might be slightly more women than men, and there might be some minorities, but as far as college is concerned, most people fit into a single demographic. The level of their work is, for the most part, up to them. There are a few exceptions, of course, but most students are not parents (at the bachelor's level, anyway), and do not have the same responsibilities working adults do.
College might make it seem like men and women are pretty equal. More women enroll in undergraduate programs. More graduating doctors and lawyers are female than male.
But when they get out into the working world, it's another story. Women earn 77 cents for every male dollar. After all the laws that were passed in the 60's and 70's, the wage gap began closing, but then, it started widening again. It's not getting any better.
This is true in every field. Male doctors, lawyers, non-profit employees, custodians, teachers, and nurses all get paid more than women.
So, if we were to translate this into grades, men would be getting A's. Women would get C's. Minority women such as Latinas and blacks? Failing at 58 percent and C- at 70 percent, respectively. You can't tell me that Latina and African-American women don't work hard (These numbers, by the way, measure only full-time workers, not mothers who cut back their hours or stay home to raise children).
Women on the job are not paid as well as men. They start out, on average, at about 91 cents to a man's dollar after graduation. This is unfair in itself, but not a huge gap, right? Well, the gap only gets bigger because raises are usually given as a percentage. So, as they continue their careers the gap widens.
Then, if they become mothers, the mommy penalty is huge. Women who are mothers are offered lower positions and wages than non-mothers. Pregnant women still get fired and demoted all the time, even though that's illegal. Some women who try to break into the men-only club in non-traditional jobs (or higher positions) encounter hostility. And others get sexually harassed to the point that their working environment is traumatic. Some women might complain, but many need their jobs and can't afford to.
So, because of Obama, we're all supposed to earning the same grade and it makes us all lazy? Hey, I'm all for capitalism (I don't think Chairman Mao's ideas worked so well in China), but calling our current system (which Obama has done little to change) an incentive for hard work is only realistic if you're a white male. You can't level out the playing field if you won't even let some of the players off the sidelines.