Posted on 06/25/2008 4:13:24 PM PDT by forkinsocket
Leftist ideology may be gaining ground in Latin America. But it will never set foot on the manicured lawns of Francisco Marroquin University.
For nearly 40 years, this private college has been a citadel of laissez-faire economics. Here, banners quoting "The Wealth of Nations" author Adam Smith -- he of the powdered wig and invisible hand -- flutter over the campus food court.
Every undergraduate, regardless of major, must study market economics and the philosophy of individual rights embraced by the U.S. founding fathers, including "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
A sculpture commemorating Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" is affixed to the school of business. Students celebrated the novel's 50th anniversary last year with an essay contest. The $200 cash prize reinforced the book's message that society should reward capitalist go-getters who create wealth and jobs, not punish them with taxes and regulations.
"The poor are not poor just because others are rich," said Manuel Francisco Ayau Cordon, a feisty octogenarian businessman, staunch anti-communist and founder of the school. "It's not a zero-sum game."
Welcome to Guatemala's Libertarian U. Ayau opened the college in 1972, fed up with what he viewed as the "socialist" instruction being imparted at San Carlos University of Guatemala, the nation's largest institution of higher learning. He named the new school for a colonial-era priest who worked to liberate native Guatemalans from exploitation by Spanish overlords.
Ayau believed universities should stay out of politics and "place themselves beyond the conflicts of their time." Easier said than done, considering that at the time, Guatemala was under military rule and in the midst of a civil war.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
It’s Onion, or Scrappleface? /s
Unwilling to report on pandemic LEFT-wing academic bias, the LATimes trotted the globe to find a university that may be RIGHT-biased. Thousands of miles away. But hey, it’s a story! “LOOK AT THE BIASED RIGHTY SCHOOL OMG!!!111”
"Powdered wig" was my first choice for a screenname, rejected after much counsel.
I thought that it was a very favorable commentary on this University. We need a few 100 Universities like this in the states.
The first thing that came to my mind when the Rats started making noise about nationalizing the oil industry was “Atlas Shrugged”.
Oh, I agree about this university being good. It just steams me that, in part at least, the LATimes takes this “bias” angle against it. One would never see the times do a piece on the routine bias to the left at, say, UCLA.
“This is kind of a sillybus:”
Actually, it’s a “Nekobus” (or “catbus”) from the Japanese animated film “My Neighbor Totoro.” In the movie, it’s a giant living cat with a body like a furry bus (you can go inside and sit on furry seats). I’m just boggled somebody actually made one! (A real one, except for the living cat bit — it’s a natural for plushy toys in various sizes.)
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