This Spring, I witnessed a portion of the four day Michigan Youth in Government conference in Lansing, sponsored by the State YMCA. My observation? This program provides a wonderful lesson in the mechanics of democracy to high school students.

I thought you might be interested in what the students thought important, and to what the actually did.

You can read the entire summary at the pdf link below. Here, though, are my conclusions:

[After reviewing the slew of bills introduced by the student legislators] I had some serious doubts about our future, if we are to be led someday by this generation.

My concerns went away, though, when I read the list of approved legislation. The students rejected the silly, the trivial, and the ill-conceived. What passed were serious bills, addressing serious issues in a responsible manner. I frankly think we might be better off if we fired all of our current legislators and replaced them with our youth in government kids.