MARENGO – Congress would be debating controversial social issues such as legalizing prostitution and marijuana instead of trying to avert the “fiscal cliff” if Marengo High School seniors were in control.

About 100 Marengo seniors this fall have been cultivating, debating and defending their own policy ideas in the “Legislative Semester,” a simulated legislature that gives students a hands-on civics lesson for an entire semester.

“They have a better understanding of where they stand on the political spectrum. They have a better understanding of what politics really is. It makes them more aware of the world around them,” said Todd Price, a Marengo social studies teacher who helps instruct the class.