Step Up: Hard Work, Dedication Equal Success

My daughter is on the varsity dance team at her high school. She spends every waking moment trying to think of fundraising ideas because she wants the team to be able to travel for competitions and participate in other events that cost money.

Our living room looks like a sweat shop, as everyone in the family helps make hair bows to sell.  My wife and daughter have spent hours filling bags full of peanuts to sell at football games.  There have been car washes and fundraiser nights galore, all in an effort to generate revenue for the team.

But it seems that in many cases only a handful of people are doing all the work while the rest of the team and their families reap the rewards. This situation has caused my daughter to make the comparison between what is happening with her dance team to socialism.

I don't know if she is studying socialism in school and just happened to express her frustration with the lazy dance team families as a conincidence.  But she has a fantastic point in my opinion. No endeavor will work if a small percentage of people do all the work while the rest just sit around reaping the shared rewards.

Socialism is a system in which the means of production and the results of that production are shared among its participants. But it will only flourish if all the workers are dedicated and hard working towards the group's goal.

Before any "haters" get their noses bent all out of shape I must say I'm a staunch capitalist. I believe that hard work will be rewarded. I believe in letting the markets decide what products and services will be dominant. I will continue to teach my daughters this premise.

However if the dance team is going to commit themselves to a group effort, I think the parents of the other dancers need to step-up and teach their kids that only hard work and dedication to a cause will bring success. They are setting such a horrible example for their kids.  And I believe the dance team coach should also get involved and say something about it.