THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 20, 1995 TAG: 9501190052
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
STUDENT DEMONSTRATIONS in the '90s? Forget about that. Students catching up on the latest in Chechnya or Richmond? Don't count on it.
``Students really aren't interested in politics,'' said Mae Munoz, a senior at Tallwood High School. ``They're not going to look at the front page of the paper; they go straight to the comics and sports.''
Just ask Laura Polakowski, another Tallwood senior. ``All that stuff that's happening with Bosnia, I don't want to read about it,'' she said. ``If it's anything about Russia, I don't want to touch it.''
Teenagers are more apathetic than ever about politics.
UCLA this month released a survey of 230,000 U.S. freshmen that showed the lowest rates of political interest in more than a quarter-century: Only 32 percent said they thought ``keeping up with political affairs'' is important. Even less - 18 percent - said they frequently discuss politics.
This week's Teenspeak asked six Tallwood students: Why is politics such a dead issue with teens?
``It's because today's topics don't deal with them,'' said James Rollins, a senior. ``Taxes, welfare - they don't have to think about that now.''
Junior Mischelle Epps agreed: ``That's not what we're worried about right now. Our parents take care of that.''
Jake Lovelace, a senior, blamed the ``negative image'' of politicians. ``When you say politics, you think of lying and cheating. People are not interested. They don't want to be associated with cheating.''
Michael Bernardo, a senior, said it's just getting more difficult to figure out issues these days. ``Politics is getting too confusing,'' he said. ``Everything has a little inside information that nobody knows.''
The Tallwood students said the political events that interest them tend to be local issues. ``The local news has more to do with you,'' Mischelle said. ``It's closer to you.
Michael cited the tug-of-war between Virginia and North Carolina over the Lake Gaston pipeline. The bottom line, for him, is the threat of restrictions on washing his car.
But no one cared much about Gov. George F. Allen's planned tax cut.
The only national issue that kids say they discuss a lot is abortion. ``Is it a woman's choice, the trimesters, looking at it religious-wise - if it's right - there are so many different issues that need to be dealt with,'' James said.
The six agreed that students must take the responsibility to get more involved. But exciting teachers who encourage debate would help trigger that interest.
Mae remembered a recent session of a government class in which the teacher let the students debate school prayer. ``A lot of students got into it,'' she said. ``They got to put their opinions out. But we had one day of class discussion, and every other day we just take notes.''
Laura had a teacher two years ago who made issues like Watergate come alive. ``He was really vibrant. He would explain it to you in English. Plain and simple, this is what happened.''
Yet she said, ``as soon as I stopped taking that class, I got away from it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Politics is getting too confusing. Everything has a little inside
information that nobody knows.
Michael Bernardo, 18, senior
That's not what we're worried about right now. Our parents take care
of that.
Mischelle Epps, 17, junior
by CNB