When I was in high school drinking really didn't seem like that big of a deal to me. When I wasn't playing a sport my friends and I would partake in it quite regularly. It really is crazy to think about how stupid I have been at some points in my life.
What teens fail to realize is that they are making decisions that could haunt them for the rest of their lives. When doing this in high school when we drank it was never at my house so someone had to drive to get me there. I generally didn't because that was my parents one request, but it is crazy to think of all the times I rode with a teenager who was under in influence. There were several times when my life could have been altered. I am very thankful that God has given me wisdom enough to not put myself in situations like that anymore.
I have often wondered that if the drinking age being 21 exacerbates binge drinking. Binge drinking is certainly a cultural thing but it is certainly not limited to just people under 21. I know of people in there 40's who still binge drink. Whether it exacerbates it or not I believe that the drinking age being 21 certainly puts some kids in bad situations. Because of the drinking age people under 21 have to hide when they are drinking. This leads them to either drink somewhere that is hard to find (i.e. where they will have a long drive back to civilization) or while they are in a car. Both of these include underage drinking and driving. I know that there are generally some DD's at these parties however I will still wonder whether or not the drinking age exacerbates the problem.
ED460 Personal and Social Well Being is a course taken by college students in education during their student teaching semester. Topics covered include: poverty, child abuse, bullying, drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, counselors' role in school, adolescents and choices, and the use of technology.
I don't think that lowering the drinking age will help with the problems of underage drinking or binge drinking. So much of the drinking that goes on is not due to the age limit, but people's perceptions and cultural attitudes. If students think binge drinking is okay and something they are entitled too, changing the drinking age isn't going to change their drinking habits. What really needs to change is people's ideas about drinking. Kids need to know, as you said, that drinking can have lasting consequences. They need to understand the proper place and use of alchohol. When we can educate people effectively on these things, then we may start to see a change in the drinking habits of our youth.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kirsten. We need to change the perspective of how America sees drinking and in order to do that, we need to take over every form of media and replace it with Barney and Telletubbies! Looks like we have a long road ahead of us, but we really do need to change of how American's see alcohol and the first thing that needs to change is all the forms of media that tend to show alcohol being abused.
ReplyDeleteWhat we need to fix this isn't something that is possible. Lower or raise the drinking age, you won't fix the problem. Lowering it will not help, for certain. This is a problem that can only be fixed by altering the moral fabric of America. Good luck, everyone.
ReplyDeleteBut really? Isn't everything else a band-aide solution?
I agree with the other posters in that lowering the drinking age really won't change much of the drinking habits in the U.S. Especially in the early years I think if you lowered the drinking age you would see a drastic rise in drinking. The only real way to limit the problem is to change the attitudes of society which will be nearly impossible.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I have three potential solutions to the drinking problem:
ReplyDelete(1) Raise the age to get your driver's license and put the drinking age below that by at least 1 year.
(2) Lower the drinking age to 14 or 15.
(3) Keep the drinking age where it is at.