This website is pro raising the age a person can smoke to 21 and uses the current United States drinking age as an example of why raising the smoking age would be beneficial to the country.
However, many facts presented about alcohol, used as support for their cause, are questionable, and inaccurate. The first issue is presented:
“The substantial drop in adolescent consumption of alcohol occurred in the absence of increased enforcement."
As demonstrated in the 60 Minutes video, underage drinking is proven difficult to enforce. Of course alcohol consumption in adolescents is down because it’s not recorded. The video went on to mention that more and more kids are drinking, but they are drinking underground, in the privacy of their own homes and house parties where law enforcement cannot consistently monitor.
"Thus if access is raised to age 21, teens younger than 18 will face increased scrutiny from sales clerks, further inhibiting their chance of ever starting or impeding their progression to established addiction."
This seems to be the consensus amongst many blogs and websites pro maintaing the current drinking age. They have this idea that by keeping the drinking age at 21, teens will not fall in to bad habits or put their lives or others’ in danger. This does not make sense to me. Raising the drinking age does not take away the side-effects of alcohol. Anybody under the influence, at any age, can get alcohol poising or be involved in a drunk driving accident. Just like one can still get lung cancer from smoking cigarettes.
Point: taking underage drinking and smoking out of context, say somebody never drank or smoked till they were 21. Are they all the sudden, exempt from the side-effects and dangers drinking and smoking causes at 18?
The source fails to mention lung cancer or emphysema or any other side effect of smoking. Instead, they focus on the risk of addiction on teens. However, many “30” something adults are addicted to smoking, likewise, many “30” something adults still abuse their alcohol consumption.
The reason why I decided to critique a source that was not specifically opposite to our stance on raising the drinking age is because drinking, like smoking, is a risk, no matter who you are. If at the age of 18 you are an adult, than you should have the right to make your own decisions.
This site is a collection of facts on why the drinking age is currently 21, and it phrases those facts to steer the reader’s thoughts to keeping the drinking age at 21.It starts out with a neutral introduction by giving just the brief history of political concerns for having the drinking age at 21 and adds in some other facts that do not concern the reader.
The first statement for why the drinking age is 21 is about how the federal government will not deduct a proportion of their funding for streets and highways.This then puts the ‘blame’ on the federal government because the states are just doing what is in their best interest given the situation the federal government has put them in.
Another argument by this site is that the alcohol related accidents within a vehicle has dropped over the past 20 years.Which, like all statistics, is skewed by a number of different variables.Things like driving test standards have increased over the last 20 years (2pass).The abilities for cars to handle the roads, and even now cars can stop themselves if it is built in the last couple years.Also I know plenty of places that when I started out driving, I would know some corners were increasingly dangerous and in the 5 years I have been driving many of those have been taken care of.Over time society develops and we learn from accidents.There were accidents that were saved
from increasing the drinking age, but to contribute that fact to solely the drinking age is wrong.
The argument of a developing brain has been brought up on numerous sites, as well as this one.It is true that our brain is still developing at 18 more than it is at 21.However, I believe at the age of 21 a person is more free and distant from their parents than they are at 18.At 18 parents can be more involved in the development of responsible drinking, but at 21 many of them are at college or have moved out away from a parent or someone who has experience drinking socially.
The refutation I made in the paragraph above about the developing brain also can apply to the next
argument made on this site, that earlier exposure to alcohol increases the chance that he or she will gain dependence to it.Drinking can be an issue just like any habit you can have.They are hard to get rid of and can negatively affect someone’s life.If knowledge and experience with a safe use of that habit is brought upon in person’s life by someone they trust then these bad habits can be eliminated.Many people have had the solution of educational training outside of school like the current drivers training programs that exist in America.Many people believe that this would be useless and a waste of money, however, if you believe in parents teaching their children how to properly drink we already have some parents that don’t know how to themselves and a program would fix that issue.Also knowledge of how alcohol affects the body will at the least slow people down when they first consume alcohol, which will lead to more personal experience and knowledge about their own body and alcohol.
Author: A. Barrett Seaman, President and founder of Choose Responsibility, Editor of Time magazine
On this particular page of the website the author discusses the idea of alcohol licensing. The idea is that in order to start drinking you would have to go through something similar to Driver’s Ed, and pass a test at the end. The idea is to encourage education about the dangers and consequences of alcohol ahead of time. Too much alcohol education takes place after the fact. The class would provide new material regarding safe drinking habits instead of simply pressing abstaining from drinking. The result of the drinking education would be a provisional license for 18-20 year-olds.
The Choose Responsibility foundation is in favor of lowering the drinking age to 18. They have many arguments in favor of the change. However, I found this particular page most interesting. Instead of simply presenting the arguments, the site came up with some new ideas regarding education about the dangers of alcohol. It is certainly an intriguing idea. We would never even consider simply allowing 16-year-olds to start driving without passing the driving test, so why shouldn’t we require a drinking license? Education will not completely solve the problem, but it would certainly be a step in the right direction.
Be sure to check out more of the Choose Responsibility website, they have lots of facts and statistics regarding drinking, as well as some more arguments for lowering the drinking age. You may have heard the foundation mentioned in some of the videos on this page. John McCardell, president of Middlebury College, who argues for lowering the drinking age, has been involved with Choose Responsibility as well.
In his book Hanson dedicates a chapter to the questioning of alcohol education. He compares the effectiveness of different styles of instruction in the 15 years preceding the book’s publication (1996). Specifically, he compares the “drinking responsibly” education to the abstinence approach. In his analysis he declares that responsible drinking education has shown more success and is more reasonable. Prior to his chapter on education Hanson discusses a history of American attitudes towards alcohol.
Although he does not specifically stress a lowering of the drinking age, I thought the alcohol education theme related to the website discussed above. Hanson specifically references the prohibition, stating that it was unsuccessful and resulted in a black market. This underground effect is what we are starting to witness in underage drinking, under 21-year-olds are still drinking, but they are taking it into the basements. The drinking occurring “underground” does not always reflect safe practices. For this reason, whether or not the drinking age is lowered, we need to consider implementing responsible drinking education.
Hanson has been researching and writing about alcohol for many years. If you would like to check out some of his more recent ideas about alcohol, check out his website: http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/index.html
One of the most recent episodes of Glee focused on alcohol awareness. The episode was entitled “Blame it on the Alcohol”. The episode opens during alcohol awareness week at the high school. The principal asks the glee club to perform a song warning of the dangers of underage drinking. While preparing for their performance the students decide to explore new horizons, they all end up drinking at Rachel Berry’s (played by Lea Michelle) party. The episode displays some of the negative effects of alcohol. Spotlighting on poor behavior and mistakes they would later regret. Underage drinking as well as alcohol education are clear themes in the episode, although it does not argue for a lowering of the drinking age.
I was excited to find a very current discussion of the issue of alcohol education and underage drinking. I had some concerns that the episode would glorify underage drinking, however, it definitely focused on the dangers and personal image consequences. I found the opinions on awareness the most relevant to our issue. Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), the glee team’s coach emphasizes drinking responsibly as opposed to abstinence. He recognizes that some of his students will likely continue to drink, so he encourages safety. At the closing of the episode, he asks them to stop drinking, however he admits that this may be an unrealistic request, so he passes around a pledge form. On the top of the form is his cell phone number, while handing these out Mr. Schuester states, “That’s my cell phone number. Part of your pledge is that if you do slip up, no matter where you are or what time of the night it is, I want you to call me to drive you home.” Alcohol awareness is something we will always need no matter what the drinking age is. I propose that with an increase in education as well as a decrease in the minimum drinking age will result in the safest and fairest conditions.
Below you can find the full Glee episode linked from hulu. Even if you have seen it before, consider watching it again while considering these new insights. The show commonly focuses on controversial topics regarding teens; it presents these topics in a fun and sometimes educational way. This particular episode focused on alcohol, but if you enjoy it consider checking out some of the other episodes! If you are a glee fanatic let me know what you thought about this episode. There are tons of television shows that discuss alcohol awareness, let me know if you think there are any others worth mentioning.
Why do kids and teens start drinking when they are not of age?
We could go into many psychological factors that a high school student goes though in their health class such as, peer pressure or because you want to be “cool.” Insert tacky “Explaining Peer Pressure,” VHS, circa 1997, here. Regardless, there’s something glamourous about drinking at any age. Perhaps that’s why the cool kids do drink. Perhaps it’s the reason why Frasier spends an evening over a good bottle of sherry. What? Frasier was cool right?
The fact of the matter is there’s some sense of coolness that one gets out of drinking alcohol. In an underage drinking matter, it’s the risk that makes up for this coolness. A study, published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states:
"Scientists believe that this lengthy developmental period may help explain some of the behavior which is characteristic of adolescence—such as their propensity to seek out new and potentially dangerous situations. For some teens, thrill-seeking might include experimenting with alcohol. Developmental changes also offer a possible physiological explanation for why teens act so impulsively, often not recognizing that their actions—such as drinking—have consequences.”
Thus, we find that if the United States decreased there drinking age it decreases this risk, this high, this sense that drinking is so
me amazing thing to participate in.
So what is the whole idea of deglamorizing drinking? Under age drinking in America follows a stereotype that is wild fraternity parties, beer bongs, beer pong, drinking to be drunk. Sadly to say, being drunk in America is well, rather glamorous. Extreme intoxication can be seen in the media through TV. It’s in our music: “bottoms up,” “brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack,” Ke$ha, herself is a prime example for alcoholism. Alcohol ads feature young people, enjoying themselves with a bottle of beer or a glass of Skyy vodka. Jersey Shore, the most intoxicated reality show in existence, holds the top spot in viewer ratings in the age demographic that starts at only twelve years of age.
So how does the lowering the drinking age help deglamorize drinking? If kids are getting drunk because of what they see on TV or hear in music, doesn’t it make things worse? The fact of the matter kids are going to drink no matter what age because they are so sensitized to it. If we lower the age to 18 it would take away that risk that many underage drinkers find thrill in.
Because eighteen year olds would now be more accountable for their alcoholic decisions as DUI fines and punishments are greater than those of underage drinking. Sure, if we lower the drinking age, tons of 18-20 year olds will go out and drink as if Applebee’s happy hour was an all you can eat buffet, but they will learn real quick that there is more responsibility held when they are legal to drink as opposed to when they are not. It takes away the fun in just going out to get intoxicated, it takes away the fun, glamorous side of getting drunk.
If we were to lower the drinking age a tremendous focus would be on socialization with drinking and not drinking as socialization. This goes along with the world drinking stage as previously posted. We think that if we lower the drinking age and deglamorization occurs, it would prompt a alcohol national cultural phenomenon similar to many other countries. France is known for wine. Germany is known for beer. America is known for drinking. Perhaps if we lower the drinking age, America would slowly rid itself of its vices and disregard drinking as simply getting “wasted.”
This is data put forth by multiple different sources presented and collaborated by a critical thinking website.
There is plenty of data out there supporting both lowering the drinking age and keeping it at 21. Regardless of drinking age, people between the ages of 18 and 20 drink illegally. This is known by everyone who has gone through high school. Brought up by this article is the opinion that “allowing these young adults to drink will hinder their academic experience. The fact is that these people already drink. It doesn’t matter if the drinking age was 21 or 31 these students would drink regardless. Saying lowering the drinking age would result in lower academic performance is irrelevant because these students are already drinking. If you choose to not believe this you are just being naïve. At any high school there are plenty of students that admit to drinking. Most of these students that participate in alcohol consumption still graduate with no problems.
Alcohol can’t be the sole reason for poor academic performance. Poor family structure, poor support, and low motivation can also cause academic deficiencies.
Another point this article makes is the gateway characteristic of alcohol. They say that that it leads to other drugs and social ills. Once again, alcohol isn’t the sole factor in this accusation. There are many other things such as poor social networks that can cause problems like this Lack of education and inadequate punishment could also lead to abuse of other drugs and behaviors included in this statement.
Bottom line, alcohol cannot take all the blame for the arguments put forward by this site.
Growing up, learning about alcohol, and being exposed the media it is easy to discover that attitudes and laws about alcohol are not universal. Many countries have differing minimum drinking ages, while others prohibit it all together. When considering lowering our own drinking age, I thought it would be beneficial to take a look at the situation in countries that currently have lower minimum drinking ages.
The United States is one of very few countries that currently enforces a drinking age higher than twenty. The majority of the world uses age 18 as a limit. The map seen in the background of this blog and also posted to the right is a great summary of this. Several countries completely ban the substance; however, this is often for religious reasons. Surprisingly some countries have no age restriction at all.
Of course, just because the majority of the world is doing it, doesn’t mean we should. In some cases it’s better to be different from the norm. So the question is: Is the lower drinking age working for those countries? Many fear that a lower drinking age will increase the risk of alcoholism and car accidents. There is a large variety of data about many countries, so I have chosen a few to spotlight with a variety of age minimums. Below is a graph displaying the percentage of 15-year-olds who experienced drunkenness before the age of 13. It is divided up by country. These numbers don’t mean much until we consider the minimum drinking age in some of these countries.
We can quickly observe from this graph the wide varieties of numbers, even in nearby countries with similar drinking ages. England, with one of the highest rates of young drinking has its minimum age set at 18. Meanwhile, with the lowest incident of young drunkenness, Italy has no minimum drinking age (although you must be 16 to purchase alcohol). Some other ages from the countries shown above include: Ireland-18, Poland-16, USA-21, Spain-18, and Portugal-16. A full list of drinking ages can be found at http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/LegalDrinkingAge.html. So what does all this data mean? The data is very sporadic and does not reflect any pattern with respect to minimum age. This suggests that underage drinking is not intensified by a lower drinking age. In fact it is far more likely that underage drinking occurring as early as 13 is due to the cultural attitudes towards drinking in those countries. An article posted on the BBC News website discusses the attitudes toward alcohol in Europe. Italy showed a very low instance of young drinkers. It is common in Italy to drink at dinner, however getting drunk in public is seen as disrespectful and irresponsible. Spain similarly showed low numbers of youth drunkenness. The Spanish take part in slower social drinking; for example public places often sell smaller drinks. Contrastingly, according to the United Kingdom’s alcohol issues website, alcohol is too readily available. Drinking in England more often takes place in pubs, and there is little education on the daily guidelines for alcohol consumption.
These arguments are in no way definite, however, the numbers suggest that education as well as respect towards alcohol use are far more important factors in dangerous underage drinking than the minimum drinking age put in place by the government.
Of course, whenever someone mentions lowering the drinking age, everyone’s minds immediately jump to traffic safety. However, examination of the numbers in a few countries suggested that drinking age may not be as big of a factor as we thought. In the United Kingdom (drinking age 18) 17% of traffic fatalities were linked to alcohol-impaired conditions. Meanwhile Italy (age 16) showed 25% of deaths on the road were related to drunkenness. Here in the US, however, about 32% of traffic fatalities are accounted for due to alcohol-impaired conditions.
Finally, an increasing concern regarding global drinking age is study abroad students. It has become increasingly common for college age students to travel to another country for a few months to enhance their education. It can be difficult for these students to return to the United States and not be allowed to drink. On a personal note, I have some cousins who traveled internationally during their high school and college years. Upon returning, they found the “forbidden fruit” aspect of drinking in America all the more enticing.
So the question is, since a minimum age of 18 seems to be working for the rest of the world, why is our drinking age still 21? What makes us so different?
