Junior Statesmen Hope Politics Is Infectious : Conference: High school students hope debates on prime national issues reduce campus apathy.

About 1,800 high school students from throughout the Southland gathered Saturday to wrestle with some of the most pressing issues in American society, including whether the United States should go to war in the Persian Gulf.

The Southern California chapter of the Junior Statesmen of America met all day at the Anaheim Marriott for the first session of a two-day conference designed to heighten students’ awareness of Bill of Rights and national and world issues.

Topics debated Saturday included flag-burning, abortion, the Equal Rights Amendment, offshore oil drilling, the Middle East crisis and women in combat.

The convention, attended by students from 81 high schools in Southern California, will conclude today with debates on national security, creationism, a balanced-budget amendment, hate groups, prayer in schools and affirmative action.

“Their goal is to get their fellow students involved in important issues on campus,” said Richard Prosser, executive director of the regional chapter of the national organization.

Convention coordinator Todd Hitomi, an 18-year-old senior from Servite High School in Anaheim, said the Future Statesmen of America chapters were formed 56 years ago to prompt young Americans to look critically at governmental affairs and social issues.

“How do we get students politically involved?” asked Hitomi, who will begin college studies in international relations next year. “That’s our goal, to decrease the growing apathy.”

In addition, Hitomi said, the nonprofit campus groups hold events year round to increase awareness of cultural differences, both in the United States and abroad.

“Cultural literacy has actually decreased,” Hitomi said. “There are issues that really involve students, and they are not aware of them.”

The convention will end with the drafting of positions on some of the issues, Hitomi said, but student representatives may never reach consensus on some other issues.

“We have a diverse group,” he said. “Some are conservative and some are liberal.”

What they do have in common is a desire to spread the word that all Americans must understand the Bill of Rights and what the document means to individual and collective freedoms, he said.

But when asked whether that goal is too lofty for most high school students, Hitomi answered:

“It’s a start. But you have to start somewhere, and this is the perfect age group to start thinking about issues that mean a lot to all of us. It’s positive peer pressure.”