Professor John Traxler at the Milwaukee School of Engineering could have simply asked what income redistribution meant. Instead, he chose to push his agenda by referencing it as “one of the main functions of government” on a test for his Healthcare Economics class, Campus Reform reported.
Student John Fisher and an anonymous student who provided the tip shared how Traxler “pushes his agenda pretty hard” and that he is “pretty set with his opinion anyways.” Neither student challenged the professor, though Fisher noted he couldn’t believe the question was real.
Campus Reform spoke with Traxler, who said he needed more context but also claimed “I think I was just trying to test whether students understood what ‘income redistribution’ meant without any judgement one way or the other.”
“One of the main functions of government is income redistribution” the question read before asking what it means. “Taxing the wealthy and giving it to those in poverty” was the correct answer.
Other professors weighed in to doubt the necessity of the question’s phrasing. There was a consensus that the question defined it accurately, but did not need “to include an endorsement of that controversial concept.”
“This question assumes a false premise,” according to Duquesne University Professor Antony Davies. He claimed that it’s “not common [to be taught in economics classes] though “it is common to teach that that is something governments can do.”
Jim Hartley, an economics professor at Mount Holyoke College said the real slant is in the start, saying that “income redistribution is one of the main functions of government,” who explained there were other ways the question could have read. “The first sentence is not necessary for the test question and thus is really just serving as propaganda,” he also shared.
