All you need is historical context.

When an opponent declares, “I will not come over to your side,” I calmly say, “Your child belongs to us already… What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing else but this new community.”
Adolf Hitler

Speech November 1933, quoted in The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer

‘”We are socialists, we are enemies of today’s capitalistic economic system for the exploitation of the economically weak, with its unfair salaries, with its unseemly evaluation of a human being according to wealth and property instead of responsibility and performance, and we are all determined to destroy this system under all conditions.” – Adolf Hitler (Speech of May 1, 1927)

They'll find out soon enough there ain't no such thing as free lunch.

I can totally understand that position. I've got two and they are amazing little ones. But, raising children in America now is really, really challenging and (honestly) frightening. Remember from the chapter White Blackmail that people (governments) will threaten what is most valuable to you in order to get you to do what they want? That really applies to families and their children these days. I know several really good parents who've been threatened by family court judges, school districts, etc. It's surreal...

Well, I admit that I laughed my head off when my kids came home with a paper specifying how many "mandatory volunteer hours" they had to do. The schools excuse was that it would make their college applications more favorable.

In my judgement, the absolute worst thing that one human being can participate in - either singularly or as part of a group, is to provide to someone a value which they have not earned. One important caveat being that the definition of "earned" must be left up to the "owner" of said value.

Contrary to popular religious leanings, it is not money nor the love of it (read Francisco's incredible speech in Atlas Shrugged). I would argue that participating in this act is the actual "root of all evil."

When dealing with aspects of existence that do not include man, a human being quickly learns that it is impossible to get something for nothing. He then quickly becomes further aware and formulates a higher abstraction that "for nature to be commanded she must first be obeyed."

Unfortunately, when combined with what a friend terms the "ABC's of accepted morality" (Altruism, Brothers keeper, Common good), together with their inevitable politics, this morality logically leads to the now all-too-common "awareness" of seeming to be able to obtain something for nothing. It has literally become an industry. To the extent it and the morality that "justifies" it exists, it serves to reinforce the idea that not only can it be done, but that it is morally "proper" to expect, seek, and demand it!

Socialism satisfies the expectations and the political basis for its fulfillment.

Right. Bernie Sanders has his nomenklatura, don't kid yourselves. He just keeps his hidden. In contrast, Hillary throws her own nomenklatura in our faces.

Meaning I used a spondee ("sky blue," both syllables stressed) instead of the trochee (stress on the first syllable only) you recommend. Got it.

Just look at the USPS.

Thanks for your reply. I get that you are not sure. I think we are all guessing a little since we cannot see inside anyone's head. For me, hearing what a student sees helps validate or invalidate what I am thinking. Just one more piece of the equation.

I would ask one more question. Since you are taught with the same teachers and books, what do you believe kept you from the same path as the others?

Because so many are indoctrinated to "judge not lest ye be judged" and that failure is the fault of society, we have lost our willingness -- even our ability -- to separate out the deserving poor, who could benefit from intelligent, voluntary charity, and the undeserving poor, who are perpetual moochers. Most of us have seen the Youtube videos of the downtrodden beggar on the corner who walks a few blocks at the end of the day and gets into a nice car.

Students have no problem understanding that if they burned the midnight oil to ace the test, they should get the A; and that to give everyone an A [for effort?] degrades everything they put into their studies. However, they don't seem willing to extrapolate from that to the bigger world, and understand that there's a reason for income inequality, and much of health inequality. Part of it is luck; but a bigger part is intelligence and hard work -- passing up on the sweets and booze and cigarettes, and showing up for work on time and eager to work.

Sarah, I also firmly believe that these young people who believe socialism is the way to give people what they deserve are absolutely sure that the money required to do so will not come from them. So they can be "generous" because they believe it will cost them nothing, and they may even get some freebies themselves.

and they are among the "underprivileged" because
of the bad economy and student debt! -- j
.

You hit that so spot on with "regurgitate"... I am trying so hard to find some way of NOT becoming Bulimic over all this...

Just get through the test, Susanne, and I'll send you all of my Pepto-Bismol!
Does your school have an Objectivist campus club? It could be worth joining.

Ugh! That sounds unbearable...

yes, if the rich didn't pull us up, we'd be ... no, we are
floundering around. . they have been shackled so heavily
that the process of pulling us up is seriously impeded. -- j
.

I started out as a young person thinking that I could change the world.
By the time I was 30, the world had changed me.
If these children want cloistered living perhaps they should choose to live in a convent.