21 or 18?
posted by Neal Haldane @ 7:44 AM
15 comments
Wednesday morning English class
The official blog for ENG 1010, Wednesday morning edition, at Madonna University.
Monday, September 28, 2009
The official blog for ENG 1010, Wednesday morning edition, at Madonna University.
posted by Neal Haldane @ 7:44 AM
15 comments
15 Comments:
Wow! That was an interesting article...
Honestly, I don't know which side to be on. I believe it doesn't really deoend on the law, but on the teens themselves.If a person wants to drink he/she would do it whether it's allowed or not. So, I think that we won't see a huge difference if 18 year olds were allowed to drink. Because, the 18 year olds that want to drink already do although it's not allowed and the ones that don't just won't even if it was allowed! However, I think that if the drinking age was 18 years then fewer students would actually drink at that age just because teens tend to do the things they are NOT allowed to do! I also think that 18-20 year olds drink more than 21 year olds just because drinking in secrecy makes it more enjoyable.
I agree with David C. Joyce though. If they think 18 year old are not mature enough to drink then how come they're sending them to war!?
Honestly i think this article is absolutely right! Students still drink, in fact it makes it more exciting because it's illegal. I believe that if the achohol age was lowered back to 18 then students wouldn't be as excited to do it. When people reach the age of21 they don't drink nearly as much as they would have as a teen. It just gets old and since they are allowed it's just not as appealing. I think they should lower the age. Students would be more careful and like the article said they would be able to be supervised. If your old enough to live in a dorm on your own, or drive or vote you should be able to drink! It shouldn't be that big of a deal.
I think people who are under the age of 21 drink more because they like the thrill, the fact that they are doing something they aren't supposed to.I really agree with this article because its pretty much stating the facts. Students do so much partying and underage drinking in college that by the time they turn 21 it has lost its excitement. I honestly don't think by lowering the drinking age to 18 will make a difference because people under the age of 21 are easily finding ways to get around the law and finding alcohol. by lowering the age to 18 its just going to make the job easier.
To be honest, I think they should lower the drinking age back to 18 because I know people under the age of 18 that drink, and I also know mothers that allow there 18 year olds to drink. Having the drinking age at 21 isn't stopping teens that are under that age from drinking--just like the article said. It would be safer if the legal drinking age got moved back down to 18.
I think the article makes a lot of sense towards underage drinking. It makes the point clear that kids under 21, stil make it possible to drink alcohol and they are going to do it without question. I think that the article has many good points, especially mentioning that it would be safer for kids to drink at 18 because they could actually be in bars instead of the woods. If the drinking age was changed to 18, it would help make teenagers more safe because they would be able to drink in public places. I think kids would be more careful with how much they drink, or who they are drinking with.
Some interesting points were raised in that article, but I can't say that I agree with lowering the drinking age. I don't think that it will remedy the problem with deaths except that the schools won't have to deal with lawsuits. I think that because 18-21 year olds feel that they are finally adults, they enjoy participating in parties with a lot of drinking. I think that it's only partly the fact that it is illegal. I don't think the campuses would have more control, it seems as if they would have less control, because there would be so much more chaos at one time. It seems that in trying to look out for themselves, they might be putting more young people in danger. When they raised the speed limit from 55 to 70 did that stop people from speeding? No. So although this might somehow remedy the problem for 18 and up, it seems like there will always be serious consequences any way you look at it.
I believe that the age should be lowered. America needs to learn some responsibility, and giving it what it wants should help out. sure there will be some major abusers of the law but it would benefit in the long run. one generation of poor decision making would help improve it for many to come. France has a very low drinking age and it is not abused as much.i think it is because it isn't just out of reach for teens they are used to it and do not have as many problems. With it being legal there will be safer environments that people drink in possibly resulting in less accidents. I think its a good idea that has been in the making for a while and needs to be put into action; It may even save some lives or spare the occasional teen from spending the night next to the toilet bowl instead of in bed.
Craig Hejka
I think it would be extremely idiotic to revert the drinking age to 18. All this does is allow more kids to get drunk and cause accidents. Accidents such as assault, as in the article, and drunk driving will occur more often. I do agree that we are more responsible as college students, or at least most of us; but I do not think drinking is the proper way of showing it. If we are as responsible as we are portrayed to be maybe it would not be a bad idea to try patience for a change.
I was unsure what to conclude from this article. Initially, I thought that the drinking age should remain at 21 since it is assumed that a person is more responsible at 21 than he is at 18 and therefore would be more responsible with drinking alcohol. However, it also makes sense to move the drinking age back to 18. The people who are responsible enough to wait to drink until they are 21 are going to be the ones who would be responsible enough to drink when they are 18, whereas those who have no self-control will drink when they want whether or not a law exists to prevent them. Basically, the age-21 law would keep self-controlled kids from drinking and would place an easily surmountable barrier in front of those who are irresponsible. The author's point that if a teen is old enough to be sent to war, then he is old enough to drink responsibly, also seems reasonable. The truth is that the government will never be able to do away with drinking-related crimes by restricting alcohol consumption. A perfect example is found in the Prohibition Era the United States went through. The real solution to drinking problems can be found, not in raising or lowering the age at which a person can legally drink alcohol, but in teaching teens how to obey and be self-controlled. If teens had these traits, then there would be fewer drinking-related problems in the world. To conclude, I guess that it would be reasonable to consider lowering the age limit to 18.
If the age of drinking was lowered to 18, many people would abuse it. At the same time others would learn the meaning of responsibility. I think that other places around the world are better places in different ways because things like lowering the drinking age teaches responsibility at a lower age. Also, you have to keep in mind that if a kid wants to drink, they are going to drink. The fact that it is illegal doesn't scare them away from doing it.
This article like so many others does in fact raise good points on both side of the fence. Initially the drinking age was raised back to 21 from 18 in 1984 by a large scale effort from MADD who were concerned with deaths attributable to drunk driving. This hasn't remedied drunk driving and as long as there are cars and booze idiots will mix them. Lately with the designated driver push there has been a decrease in drunk driving fatalities. Drinking is much more safe in a bar or restaurant setting. The main problem would be alcohol getting even more heavily into high schools with 18 years olds being more redily able to buy for younger high schoolers which in my opinion is in no way good. What it comes down to is that if I want to drink this weekend I can go to any town and find a party consisting of underage drinking and if that party were to get busted I could go out the next night and find the same result.
I completely agree with the article. It pretty much says the same thing I've been saying; they're sending people to war, but won't let them drink? I think about Europe a lot. They're drinking age is substantially lower than ours. A lot of them even start as children, having a glass of wine at dinner. They don't have the same problems with teens going crazy for alcohol over there, because they're used to it. They've grown up with it, so it's not some big 'cool' thing to do. The funny thing is, in most European countries, people have to be 18 to learn to drive, where over here we start as young as 14. As far as maturaty goes, there are 40 year old people who don't know how to hold their alcohol. That problem of maturaty can't be used as an umbrella excuse over just one age range. I think if the drinking age gets lowered, there will be some set backs at first, because it will be a new and exciting thing. Once, however, people as a whole get used to it, and a new generation grows up with this as the norm, it will work itself out.
Lowering the age from 21 to 18 would honestly do nothing but make alcohol abuse worse. Doesn’t matter if it legal or illegal to drink, college students will still make dumb decisions. To be 18 and to be able to drink legally would most likely raise death rate of binge drinking and drunk driving deaths. I think that 21 is a good age, to lower it to 18 some students are not responsible enough yet to know what is to much
I like this articul. But I would have to side on the side of 18. kids are going to do it no matter what, and the fact that the colleges say you cant usually means that kids want to do it more. If it was legal the government could make alot of money off of 18 teens going out to buy booze for a frat party. I'm purely looking at this article on a business standpoint. Its good for the economy.
Personally, I've never been one for age restrictions for the simple reason that they usually give more of an incentive to break the law.
Think about it, during the probation era, people all over still drank. It got to the point where they had to unban it, and after a while not as many people were drinking. Weed is similar. I'm sure the day they legalize weed, many people will frolick to it, but after a while they'll realize it isn't that amazing and will stop.
So yeah, I do think lowering the age to 18 would be a good idea. The initial rush may be chaotic and may even produce a few deaths, but after a while people won't really care about it any more.
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