TSAGHKADZOR, Armenia ““”“ I have come on a whim to the
Valley of Flowers, a vast expanse of forestry 40 miles outside
Yerevan, Armenia’s capital city. For the past week, 150 high
school economics students have stayed at a campsite here, both as
reward for academic achievement and as an incentive for further
involvement in the shaping of Armenia’s economic
landscape.
The students ““ whose stay is sponsored by Junior
Achievement of Armenia, an organization that heads the teaching of
economics and civics in public schools ““ are divided into 13
groups that compete with each other in various activities.
In one day’s time these students have exposed me to the
world of economics in a way that no textbook or economist
could.
On today’s agenda was the picnic. Each group was given
approximately 12,000 drams ($24). With that money the group was
required to set a table with food, judged on factors of health,
taste, creativity, quality and quantity.
When I arrived at Tsaghkadzor at 3 p.m. the 13 tables already
were set on the midsize patch of greenery surrounding the campsite.
The tables abounded with drinks, kabobs, salads, cheeses and
pastries ““ all of which quickly reminded me why one cannot
maintain a diet in Armenia.
As part of the administration’s jury team I walked from
table to table to sample the foods, assess groups’
creativity, and determine their overall score. I immediately
discovered that the seemingly supreme layout of one table was
quickly overshadowed by the pristine variety of the foods on the
next.
The winning table was simply spectacular. This group had gone to
the limit with its money. Its members had carved a watermelon to
resemble Armenia’s geographic shape and assembled cucumbers
and tomatoes to look like large mushrooms. Even the losing teams
begrudgingly accepted the outcome as music began to play and the
festivities peaked.
Soon cards and backgammon were brought out for play, and, in
Armenia’s true cultural flavor, conversations flourished.
Razmik, a short and confident 16-year-old who wore a Chicago
Bulls hat, told me in secret, “I hate to say it, but (the
winning group’s) table was much better than ours.”
The tone and subject of the talks later became more serious.
“What would you do if you were president of Armenia?” I
asked Razmik. He chuckled and said, “I wouldn’t do
anything. Economics is all about individuals competing with one
another. Government is not involved.” I smiled at the simple
clarity of that answer.
I made my way to the winning table, where I chatted lightly with
a 15-year-old girl named Hamest, which, ironically, means
“modest” in Armenian. “We won,” she said.
“We are the best.”
I asked her if that was not a bit selfish. “I guess you
could call it that,” she said, her face now sour. “But
it really isn’t. We didn’t hurt any of the other teams
in the process. Our goal was not to harm them, and we did not harm
them. From the beginning we were interested in our own product
““ how we could be better. And we won. But that doesn’t
mean the others lost.”
I asked Hamest what the government’s role in economics
should be. “Aside from protecting its citizens from
harm,” she told me, “absolutely nothing. Look at our
table. Do you think (Armenian President) Robert Kocharian could
have spent the $25 as we did and set up a table as beautiful as
ours?” The obvious answer was no. But why?
“Because he wouldn’t be setting it up for
himself,” said a voice from the other side of the table.
“Well, he probably would be,” said another joking on a
somewhat unrelated topic.
“Was this economics?” I thought to myself. It surely
had to be more complex, a little less simplistic.
But it wasn’t. These students had spent what they had to
best suit their own needs and desires and in the process, without
intervention, had created 13 stunning tables for everyone to see
and enjoy.
Economics, I was informed, is best left to those who are
affected by it ““ the people. Their money and life must be
earned, managed, and spent by them.
This concept and the camp in which I found it are not at all
political. The students come from different social and political
backgrounds, and the organization is entirely nonpartisan.
Without thinking ideologically the students had come to the same
conclusion: Free-thinking, creative individuals who are free from
governmental coercion and free to pursue their own prosperity and
happiness will end up bettering themselves and the society around
them. This means, as I later figured out ““ though the
students never labeled it ““ laissez-faire capitalism.
George Bush, John Kerry and the lot of American and world
intellectuals have much to learn from these students ““
students who probably will never own a major corporation or manage
an international company but who see the simple key to life’s
complex problems.
Hovannisian is a second-year history and philosophy student.
E-mail him at ghovannisian@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to
viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.