ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE

Fifty high school students, sponsored by UC Irvine and the Orange County chapter of the National Conference, have been leading classmates in a nonpartisan community service project aimed at encouraging voters to exercise their franchise. At a time when concern about voter participation is acute, and when the commitment of young people to the future of democracy is being debated, they are showing their elders a thing or two about self-government.

It should be no surprise that these youngsters are taking the lead. They come from 26 schools and represent a wide range of proven leadership talent. In the group are valedictorians, musicians, class presidents, athletes and community volunteers.

What they have in common is their enthusiastic participation in the Knowledge and Social Responsibility Program, which stresses diversity, critical thinking and resolving societal ills. William A. Shane, head of the local chapter, says, “There is a commonly accepted myth that young people are not interested in current events, not concerned with important social issues and are afraid of hard work. These students blow away the myth.” The nationwide organization was founded in 1927 as the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

Earlier this month, the students met at Chapman University for training and discussion and then fanned out in their neighborhoods to remind voters about the coming election. They informed their neighbors of polling places and offered absentee ballots. These youngsters offer a refreshing antidote to apathy. They have brought their youthful energy and idealism to the very renewal of the democratic spirit.