Monday, February 4, 2008
What The Drinking Age Should Be
We live in a country that greatly differs from all the others for many reasons. One being our laws and in particular the drinking age. Laws are made for a reason obviously but sometimes these so called reasons dont seem to make a lot of sense. For example, why is it that when you are 18 years old you are eligible to go to war, but not drink a beer? Why is it that at 18 you can elect the leaders of your country who make the laws, but can't go to a bar? These questions are on the minds of many and will remain unanswered until the law is changed. Its a proven fact that once a person turns 21 many of those people significantly drink less than before. Most teenagers whether in highschool or college find drinking alluring because it is illegal and risky. They feel empowered through this rebellion. So taking that into consideration, I feel that more 18 year olds who drink heavily would slow down once it was legal. Im not saying it should be 18 because I want everyone in college to get drunk im just saying in a reverse way it might help with our nations problem. More and more people are drinking and there does not seem to be a decline anytime soon. All in all if you can give your life for your country you should be able to raise a beer for it too.
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9 comments:
I tried to answer your question on my blog. This is a complicated issue. Just giving the reasons why the drinking age should be lowered is not going to address the problems of why it was raised, and what could possibly be done to change it. This is both a social and a political problem, and apporaching it politically is not enough.
When reading your blog, I was waiting for the line, that if you can die for your country, you should be able to drink. I agree with you 100%. The U.S. is the only country in the world where the drinking age is 21, and I don't understand it. Maybe its because the death rate of college students is rediculous due to alcohol poisoning caused by binge drinking. But who knows? Cause i don't. I've read somewhere I forgot where that the reason the drinking age is 21 is because research was done to prove that human kidneys don't stop growing until we are 21 years old. I don't believe that for a second. But now its time for my opinion. A part of me wishes the drinking age were 18, but the realistic part of me understands why it just can't be. You tell us that younger people drink because they can't do it till they are 21, and its a way for them to feel older, and badass. Lets be honest, thats not the reason. Younger people drink because they see the affects of alcohol on people. Nobody loves to get nuttier more than I do, I'll be honest. But then again, I look to back at all the high school parties I went to and all the kids who thought they were "tanks," with the never ending tolerance. Yeah that was funny, because they were the ones past out in their own vomit. The age group of 16-20 in the U.S. are too irresponsible to drink. End of story.
I totally agree with your view on the drinking age. It is really crazy that many of the soldiers fighting for us in Iraq are not legally allowed to sit down at a bar and order a beer. I do believe that many of the problems with alcohol on college campuses across the country are due to the drinking age being 21. Those under 21 would drink much more responsibly if there was not a possibility of punishment. Teenagers really do love the feeling of getting away with something they are not supposed to be doing. So when 18 year olds use their fake IDs to buy alcohol at the corner liquor store without getting caught it is more of a rush than anything. The United States has the highest drinking age and one of the highest rates of alcoholism. That is because children in other countries are taught how to drink by their parents at a young age. However, we learn how to drink from our friends and drinking has turned into a sort of contest in this country.
ok, obviously as underage people we will argue for lowering the drinking age, and I tried to see both sides of the coin here. However, I have to agree with Max. With power comes great responsibility, a responsibility that apparently those under 21 cannot handle. Really there is no correlation to drinking and being able to go to war so I have always found that argument invalid. People who go into the service at 18 are doing it for separate reasons than the people who chose to drink at this age.When you are 18 you are a senior in high school or a freshman in college for the most part. You live in a society that sets you free to an extent at that age. However, if all the freedom were thrown at you at once how overwheming would that be? Obviously the freedom should not be given to the age group because they are not mature enough to understand why. Medically, it is not safe and the decisions you make at this age are going to affect you for the rest of your life, do you want alcohol screwing that up for you? Really?
Even if the drinking age was lowered to 18 I don't think it would solve the nations drinking problem. Because when you turn 18 you will still be doing the same things you are now... going to college, getting freedom, trying to meet new people, etc. The reason it wont help is because kids will have the same motives to drink as they always have it will just be legal now and therefore easier to come by. Its not that i don't love to go out and drink but i just dont think that moving the driking age would really do anything, sure it would be cool for us college students but would it change our lives very much? Probably not
The problem with lowering the drinking age is that the initial transition would spark a cataclysm of drinking amongst younger people during the first few days, weeks, or even months of the change. 18 year olds who originally wouldn't drink as much (if at all) because of the high drinking age would be tempted to go out and experience legal drinking for the first time, and the consequences could be disastorous. Imagine, the first night that the drinking age was lowered... Lots of people (I believe a lot more than normal) would go out drinking at the same time, which could cause all sorts of problems, such as higher drunk driving accidents, more bar fights, more deaths due to alcohol poisoning, and so on. Now don't get me wrong, I think the drinking age should be changed, but I think it should be a more gradual change, maybe lower the legal age by one year every year... There's my two cents.
I agree with Alex--if the drinking age were lowered, the first night, there would be a lot of alcohol poisoning incidents. Think how many people drink too much on the night of their 21st birthday. It would be like one big 21st birthday party. Another angle to consider is medical. Sorry that I don't have the source for this--if I were writing to my own blog I would look it up--but I recently read a news article about how the brains of people under twenty five are still developing, and alcohol has more effects on the still underdeveloped brain than it does on the older person's brain. So give your brain a chance to be all that it can be--don't stunt its growth by drinking too much.
I agree completely with your view on drinking. If we are old enough to die over seas at war, how come we aren't able to buy alcohol. During any time of war or election time this topic seems to be brought up on occasion and i think that it needs to be discussed more throughly. I think that the reduction of the legal drinking age would drastically reduce the amount of alcohol related crimes that we have. Especially since being in college where most people have a drink or two on occasion, it would be a lot easier on everyone if you could legally purchase alcohol by the time you were a freshman in college.
This is a topic the puzzles me as well. I feel that at 18, we are given so much responsibility, but then again aren’t trusted. Once we turn 18, we can do almost everything- except drink of course. I have cousins who live in Scotland, and they are more responsible about drinking than most underage drinkers in the US, and I really do believe this is because they have grown up with drinking, and don’t see it as something that restricts them. I agree with your comment when you said that underage drinking is seen as rebellious, therefore making it more appealing. I don’t think this is something that is going to change anytime soon, but it sure would make sense in my mind if it did. Good topic and post.
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