Instituto Henry George ... Managua, Nicaragua

NOTICIAS del INSTITUTO

Third Intensive Class in Economía Política Graduates
Managua, December 18, 2000 -- The Instituto Henry George's third intensive "Comprender la Economía" Political Economy class graduated November 22nd. This third course enrolled 96 students and graduated 46, that is, double the amount of the first two courses this year.

The course was marked by a more politically minded group of students, probably due to the elections taking place at the time. Many students were skeptical and/or critical of the course at first, as seems to be normal. Again, as in the previous course, after the 3rd class, the students calmed down and became more receptive and thoughtful. After the 5th class, they were all humbly aware that they had stumbled upon something that completely upended their personally held theories and conclusions about the causes of poverty in Nicaragua.

The October-November 2000 CE course took place in an improved location, in order to accommodate 96 students.

Out of the 46 graduates, almost all expressed interest in volunteer work with the IHG, but the IHG only allows graduates of the "superior" level to work directly as volunteers. The other levels of "intermediate" and "basic" are able to repeat the last part of the course in order to up their qualification to "superior". In subsequent meetings at the Instituto, about 10 volunteers were selected to participate in the January 2001 teacher training class, and others formed work groups to tackle research projects on taxation's effect on consumer pricing, and the graphing of Nicaragua's rising land prices since 1990.

The November 2000 IHG "Comprender la Economía" graduate ceremony.

The following statistics comparing the three courses completed this year indicate the advances made in all phases of recruitment, enrollment, course delivery, cost control, and volunteer recruitment, and show the general standard of performance that can be expected in all of these areas.

The above measurements show the standard of performance of the IHG intensive course, and what we can expect as we duplicate our courses. The Instituto's plan is to train 6-10 new teachers out of each 50 graduates. Classes will continue to range from 20-50 graduates. Each new teacher will gain experience by assisting an on-going established course, and then will co-teach a course in a new location, or with an alternative schedule. In this way, the IHG intends to extend accessibility to our course to all Managuans, and in a later phase, to the capitals of each of Nicaragua's other 16 departments. By far, the most important department is the department where we are working now, Managua, where more than 1/4 of the country's population work and/or live. We expect to be able to command greater and greater attention of the media, the universities, and the political parties long before we have reached the majority of Nicaraguans directly through our courses, but we speculate that the inexorable advance of public consciousness via this course will provide the leverage that will open all other doors for influencing public awareness.

So far, this year the Instituto has been able to gain initial access to radio and TV, as well as interviews with political parties, with many meetings pending in the new year. The process of reaching the public will be enhanced by the printing of the course texts in Nicaragua at a lower cost than before possible, and by their distribution through a county-wide network of bookstores. The Instituto hopes to find a permanent location in the university section Managua and will be working on arranging for a grant for scholarships for the study of georgist economics at the university level. These classes all gain more credibility with each graduate CE class because the numbers show the interest and demand for what the Instituto is teaching.

"Work with passion, have fun, save the world!"
"Trabajar con pasión, divertirse, salvar el mundo!"

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since December 22, 2000