Jackson County Western High School debaters Adrienne Holden, Jenn Scears, Heidi Dick, and Tara Hammond show team camaraderie during a break from the full day of economic training at a Mackinac Center High School Debate Workshop on September 23.

More than 480 high school students in five Michigan cities picked up pointers on how to research and debate the economics of international relations at the 1998 Mackinac Center for Public Policy High School Debate Workshops held September 22 through September 29.

Students and coaches from the debate teams of 29 schools signed up to learn facts, theory, and history of Russia's faltering economy to apply to this year's national high school debate topic, United States foreign policy toward Russia.

The National Forensic Association chooses the topic each year that is researched and debated by more than 100,000 top students in Michigan and around the country.

The day-long workshops were held in Grayling, Jackson, Novi, Grand Rapids, and Midland, and featured presentations from Gary Leff, program director at the Institute for Humane Studies in Fairfax, Virginia; Gregory Rehmke, director of the Economics in Argumentation program at the Free Enterprise Institute in Houston, Texas; and David Beers, program officer at the Free Enterprise Institute.

Students received instruction in basic economic and foreign policy principles as well as information packets of journal articles, commentaries, and a video to help develop their understanding of the challenges Russia faces in its transition to a market economy, as well as appropriate American measures to encourage Russian economic development.

The Mackinac Center, a nonprofit research and educational institute based in Midland, has sponsored the workshops for the past eleven years. "These workshops have been part of our mission since day one," said Workshop Director Kendra Shrode. "As an educational organization, we believe in actively engaging students, who are just beginning their lifelong quest for knowledge." Nearly 5,000 students have participated in past debate workshops.

"Today's debate students include many of tomorrow's leaders in academia, the media, and politics. Some 80 percent of today's legislators competed in speech and debate. The Mackinac Center workshops show these students how to apply sound economic concepts in their debate competitions," said Rehmke.

Kenowa Hills High School debate teacher Michael Johnston, who has brought his students to the Grand Rapids workshop for the past six years, said, "My students receive an excellent seminar in basic economics and a perspective they are not likely to get in many shallow . . . newspapers or TV newscasts."

Past participants likewise expressed their appreciation for the program. "There aren't enough organizations that are willing to give financially to such worthwhile endeavors," said Theresa Mills, debate coach for Creston High School, also in Grand Rapids. Writing in a letter praising last year's workshops, she added that the debate training helps "groom the leaders of the future."

The Mackinac Center offers further help to debate students in the form of its "Ask the Debate Coach" Internet service, accessible at www.mackinac.org. On the Web site, students can email questions about the national debate topic and receive facts and pointers to further research within 48 hours.