License to drink? College presidents think legal drinking age should go lower
Filed under: Money College, Extracurriculars, Health, Relationships, School
Remember how seriously you took the test to get your driver's license? What if the same hoops and hurdles to putting 16-year-olds behind the wheel was applied to letting 18-year-olds drink alcohol? This is the solution to the abysmal failure of the 21-and-over drinking law discussed on CBS's 60 Minutes.
According to the segment, more than 100 college presidents, "including the heads of Dartmouth, Virginia Tech and Duke - signed a declaration stating that the 21-year-old drinking age is not working."
They argue the current drinking law pushes drinking underground, where alcohol abuse, in the form of binge drinking games, is rampant. (Maybe if they were allowed to go into bars they'd be socialized to drink moderately). One of the solutions is to lower the drinking age to 18, in the hopes that young people will lay off the binge drinking, which will no longer be criminalized, and learn the responsibility of drinking like they do driving.
Former president of Middlebury College in Vermont, John McCardell, told 60 Minutes' Leslie Stahl he wants to lower the drinking age to 18 and have "mandatory classes in high school that would include the chemistry of alcohol, the physical consequences of abuse, and sitting in on AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) sessions. Passing an exam would result in a license to drink."
A license to drink? I thought about this one for a while. My first reaction was: brilliant. Makes perfect sense. I sweated over getting my driver's license and have never, knock on wood, gotten into an accident. If being able to get into the bars meant passing a test, and my social life is on the line, I would pass with flying colors. Those classes would stay with me, and make me least likely to try to break any records on a kegstand--(see picture).
But 18-year-olds at bars? How strange would that be, with all the traumas of high school, introducing bars into the mix? There's always that awkward social divide between those lucky people with the "early" birthdays who got to drive before the rest of us; they thought they were so cool and had all the power until the rest of us turned 16. Imagine making 18-year-olds feel like gods for ditching their friends and going to the bars just to enjoy, wide-eyed, a pint, while a couple of grizzly locals stink up a corner booth. Meanwhile their 17-year-old friends are huddled together in some bedroom somewhere, while the parents are in the living room falling asleep to a movie, and sharing boxes of Keystone Light and tall cans.
As strange as it is that I'm fixating on the social mores of high school rather than the health and traffic consequences of lowering the drinking age, it's these social pressures that spread drinking games that teeter on suicide. The "Nasty Truth About Alcohol" drinking programs will help combat "drink till you puke" games, and getting allowed to drink at the same age you're trusted to vote and go into combat may make drinking less of a big deal for young people.
I'm all for lowering the drinking age, because it's obviously a law that's not working, but can't we lower it to 19? Just so high school seniors have a final year together just feeling and being like kids, whether they see themselves that way or not. I have full faith in college freshman, especially in this economy, to see the bars as a waste of money and getting to know college and your future friends-for-life a whole lot more interesting. Plus, introducing drinking earlier, it becomes less of a big deal, less of a fixation. Making people wait until they turn 21 to drink builds up drinking like some great right of passage you get to take simply by turning a year older.
They argue the current drinking law pushes drinking underground, where alcohol abuse, in the form of binge drinking games, is rampant. (Maybe if they were allowed to go into bars they'd be socialized to drink moderately). One of the solutions is to lower the drinking age to 18, in the hopes that young people will lay off the binge drinking, which will no longer be criminalized, and learn the responsibility of drinking like they do driving.
Former president of Middlebury College in Vermont, John McCardell, told 60 Minutes' Leslie Stahl he wants to lower the drinking age to 18 and have "mandatory classes in high school that would include the chemistry of alcohol, the physical consequences of abuse, and sitting in on AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) sessions. Passing an exam would result in a license to drink."
A license to drink? I thought about this one for a while. My first reaction was: brilliant. Makes perfect sense. I sweated over getting my driver's license and have never, knock on wood, gotten into an accident. If being able to get into the bars meant passing a test, and my social life is on the line, I would pass with flying colors. Those classes would stay with me, and make me least likely to try to break any records on a kegstand--(see picture).
But 18-year-olds at bars? How strange would that be, with all the traumas of high school, introducing bars into the mix? There's always that awkward social divide between those lucky people with the "early" birthdays who got to drive before the rest of us; they thought they were so cool and had all the power until the rest of us turned 16. Imagine making 18-year-olds feel like gods for ditching their friends and going to the bars just to enjoy, wide-eyed, a pint, while a couple of grizzly locals stink up a corner booth. Meanwhile their 17-year-old friends are huddled together in some bedroom somewhere, while the parents are in the living room falling asleep to a movie, and sharing boxes of Keystone Light and tall cans.
As strange as it is that I'm fixating on the social mores of high school rather than the health and traffic consequences of lowering the drinking age, it's these social pressures that spread drinking games that teeter on suicide. The "Nasty Truth About Alcohol" drinking programs will help combat "drink till you puke" games, and getting allowed to drink at the same age you're trusted to vote and go into combat may make drinking less of a big deal for young people.
I'm all for lowering the drinking age, because it's obviously a law that's not working, but can't we lower it to 19? Just so high school seniors have a final year together just feeling and being like kids, whether they see themselves that way or not. I have full faith in college freshman, especially in this economy, to see the bars as a waste of money and getting to know college and your future friends-for-life a whole lot more interesting. Plus, introducing drinking earlier, it becomes less of a big deal, less of a fixation. Making people wait until they turn 21 to drink builds up drinking like some great right of passage you get to take simply by turning a year older.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 19)
2-23-2009 @ 11:16PM
Hero Prohibition said...
oh yeah wow the kool kids in school would be the ones with hangovers who end up drunk losers faster or dead .. in short prohibition is the greatest thing to happen to this shithole of a country and i hope obama takes all your guns drugs and booze away then we will see how many "Patriots"there are oh yeah and i am Straightedge... and who the fuck is really going to take the advice of a v tech guy isn't drinking and picking on those who don't to look cool the reason for the school shooting??
Reply
2-25-2009 @ 2:37PM
Lionscream said...
Hero Prohibition I can tell you who will take your advice: anyone who has no respect for the rights of others.
The drinking age should be 18, and not because of the stupid "old enough to fight for your country" rehtoric, it's real simple...if your 18 you need to be accountable for your actions, period.
2-25-2009 @ 3:11PM
Alicia said...
I think the dinking age should be lowered to 19 not 18. 18 year olds are still in high school and hanging out with 16 & 17 year olds, not a good a idea. At least when they are 19 they are in college with the older crowd or have their own places.
2-25-2009 @ 3:12PM
punkbass78 said...
Hero Prohibition: seem not to have learned why prohibition didn't last. It's a law that's almost unenforceable, popularized cheap/poor quality beverages, the health risks of trying to hide your illegal/potentially lethal habit, and increased total demand for alcohol.
These are almost the exact the same reasons why the minimum age of 21 isn't working.
I have no qualms with you being straight edge, and if you follow through with it, I find it amiable. However, I hate when somebody, be they straight edge, vegetarian, or any type of activist, tells you are wrong for not believing the same thing they do.
2-25-2009 @ 3:19PM
sk said...
Dude, get your facts straight: economically and socially, Prohibition was one of the WORST ideas this country has ever produced. It resulted in such an extensive black market that the Mafia were able to gain strongholds across the country. It was so economically devastating that the industries that would have otherwise employed people (not just alcohol producers, but also distributors, drinking establishments and advertisers) were out of work and on unemployment. Police expenditures were through the roof, as they were trying to stem the tide of "illegal" drinking, but taxes were not being increased because what they were fighting was illicit and not under government control. Seriously, before you blow chunks outta your butt, do your homework!
2-25-2009 @ 4:32PM
Beth said...
Apparently you don't realize that Prohibition didn't work... any taking guns away from law-abiding citizens would be UNconstitutional... and obviously, making drugs illegal doesn't keep them out of the hands of anyone that wants them. You are trying to legalize your own "morality". If you want to live in a country with no freedom, there are plenty of other places for you to go.
2-25-2009 @ 3:23PM
your kinda right said...
I think it is excellent, in fact every municipal building should have every drug open to the public to take. Let all the retards kill themselves off until only the fit remain. Good population control, cleansing of the gene pools of each race! :D I think the straightedge thing is too much of not doing enough though.
2-25-2009 @ 4:25PM
Mike Fiorenza said...
man....you are an idiot!
2-25-2009 @ 4:36PM
BILL PALMINI said...
GREAT ARTICLE- WE NEED TO EDUCATE THE TEENS PROIR TO ENTERING HIGH SCHOOL . THATS WHERE THE PEER PRESSURE STARTS. USE MUSIC SUCH AS THE CHIEF OPERATOR TEEN DRIVER PROGRAM DID IN CALIFORNIA WHERE IT REDUCED ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES 27 PER CENT
2-25-2009 @ 6:11PM
Adam said...
You are obviously completely ignorant. If they took the guns and booze away, the crime rate would skyrocket, just like it did during prohibition, also with no guns, how would you protect yourself when you are being robbed by gang members who would end up taking over.
2-25-2009 @ 6:31PM
Art said...
Why not leave my country you shit head
2-25-2009 @ 9:43PM
Prohibition was Always Stupid said...
I would really like to encourage you to check out the history books before you make such bold claims. Prohibition cause huge problems in the United States, if you knew anything about prohibition or history in general you would know that it resulted in huge increases in crime rates as well as was potentially one of the things that further caused the United States to go deeper into the Great Depression. Maybe before you criticize the United States as a shithole, you should get an idea of what the US is, because it is rather obvious that you have no clue.
4-20-2009 @ 3:48AM
david said...
you're a dick...you don't understand that regardless we're still going to find it, we will get our hands on it, and we will fucking drink it! regardless of what the law says people will break it, that is the foreseeable truth of ANYTHING! if something is regulated, there is always some bleeding heart out there who will find a way to fuck with it. you're probably one of those farts who goes around calling 40-year-olds 'kids' and telling them ''get off my lawn!'' well now you're stepping on our "lawn" when it comes to this topic, so go be a dickhead somewhere else
2-24-2009 @ 1:55PM
da governator said...
they should raise the drinking age. who would want to get loaded next to some kid who has hope and their whole lives ahead of them? :P
Reply
3-18-2009 @ 10:37PM
Hero Prohibition said...
steve i can tell you know that the reason that most of us joined the army aint to protect your asses it is the things we learn wile in the military and the 100,000 bonus for enlisting and going to the army is essentially being in the second largest gang in the world even gang members have joined the army we don't die for you we die for our right to live and killing people without a conscience is pretty awesome too infantry 22'nd division kicking down doors crakin skulls and evading the e.o.d's
2-25-2009 @ 10:22AM
Tanya said...
If an 18-year old can join the military and die for the country, they should be allowed to drink. But we need more education on the dangers of binge drinking and promotion of the designated driver concept. Friends should look out for friends.
Reply
2-25-2009 @ 3:08PM
Liz said...
Having an 18 year-old join the army, fight and die for his or her country is a total different circumstance than having an 18-year old allowed to drink. They are two different extremes. Fighting for his or her country is doing good, while having a drink and getting drunk can result into bad.
Think about what you said.
2-25-2009 @ 3:42PM
Jennifer said...
I actually want to reply to what Liz said, yes drinking and war are two different things and although one may serve a better purpose, they are both ADULT decisions. If you are adult enough to choose to fight and die, you should be considered adult enough to have a drink and BE HELD RESPONSIBLE for any resultant damage. When I was 19 my boyfriend got a DUI, during which he hit 3 parked cars (thank god nothing happened when he was on the road), he was so drunk, he didn't even know he hit them, left and actually returned to the scene a few minutes later. When he went to court, he got a slap on the wrist because he was a minor. At the time I was of course relieved but now realize that it may have done him and other kids like him more good to have to face the adult consequence. If they are not going to lower the drinking age because these kids aren't mature enough to drink than they should raise the age that children are considered to have become an adult.
2-25-2009 @ 3:53PM
Niki said...
I have to disagree with Liz. How is it different? In the army, youre risking your life, and possibly even risking the lives of innocent civilians. Where as when you drink, you risk harming your body, or even worse. Getting drunk, where even walking home could be deadly. How many innocent people were killed because someone decided to drink and drive?
How is being in the army "doing good," when theres so many bad things about it? What about a parent loosing their child? What about a husband or wife loosing their spouse. What about the families and friends that loved, and/or depended on them?
IMO, being in the army has just as many risks as drinking. And guess what? BOTH are CHOICES. CHOICES that adults make because as adults, they are considered responsible for their own actions. Why is an 18yo given the choice to possibly destroy his/her life and maybe other through the army, and not allowed the choice to possibly destroy his/her life and others with alcohol?
3-07-2009 @ 11:41AM
Jinks said...
18 year olds will drink even if it is not legal. It is kind of like probtion when all drinking was out lawed. it still happened and I I think youngsters need to be given the facts, but they are in the military and serving our country.
Make drinking age 18 legal so it won't be such a temptation. When you can have something then you find you really do not want it.