If You Can Serve, Can You Drink?
By Kate Sheldon
Imagine living in a world where drinking at the age of 18 were socially acceptable and young men and women were able to legally drink the night of their high school graduation. Some may say that if you are able to serve your country at 18 and risk your life, be able to vote or even get married, then you should be able to enjoy a beer with your friends, too. I don’t necessarily disagree with this statement but I also don’t completely agree with it, either.
When I turned 18, I had just started my freshman year at California University of Pennsylvania. Even if I had been 18 when I was a senior in high school, I still do not believe that I would have been prepared mentally for an action such as legally drinking. I am now in the second semester of my junior year of college and will turn 21 in a few months. I know from experience and from being around college students each day, most of whom are 21 now, that at 18, they would not have been mentally ready to take on the responsibility of drinking in moderation. The maturity of most high schoolers and college students is not up to par with the responsibilities that come along with legally drinking.
I have seen many people make terrible decisions while they were blacked-out drunk, and have known them to be the victims of unnecessary violence. Then, of course, these students become sick from binge drinking and not moderating their drinking whatsoever. The responsibility factor seems to be lacking in most college students and especially at the age of 18. If I can’t trust some of these people to be able to be able to take out their trash when it gets too full or make it to class on time, then why would I trust them in public with alcohol? Why would I trust them to get behind a wheel, even if they have had only one drink? I have seen too many of my friends make stupid decisions because of alcohol, and I know that if the drinking age was lowered, that this would just allow teenagers and young adults to believe that their stupid decisions are justified because it is legal.
On the other hand, however, I have also thought about that regardless of the drinking age, teenagers would still drink whether they are 21 or not. Keeping the drinking age at 21 seems to push teenagers to want to drink in unsafe situations and less controlled environments and experiment with binge drinking, which can potentially lead to more life-endangering and health-threatening behavior. It seems as if it is the mentality of teenagers to choose to ignore that they are committing a crime each time they open a beer or mix a drink. By banning teenagers from participating in an act that is universally understood to be a symbol of adulthood, teenagers, in turn, disrespect the law and do what they want anyway. In many ways, the climate surrounding the current drinking age is similar to that during Prohibition in the 1920s. It is easy to see the culture of speakeasies, rum runners and bathtub gin echoed in the keg parties, pre-gaming, and drinking games of today.
Another thing to consider about the drinking age being 21 is that just because young adults who are 21 or older are not supposed to supply alcohol to minors does not mean that they won’t do so anyway. I have many friends who are not 21, but sure enough, they have alcohol to drink each weekend that they go out to parties because they have given money to someone who was able to buy them alcohol. I also think that underage drinking causes a lot of different types of unnecessary run-ins with the law. I don’t necessarily see anything wrong with a group of friends sitting around someone’s house or apartment hanging out and playing drinking games, but I also do not agree with the people who are underage who go out of their way to be able to drink in public and get served wherever they go.
During my freshman year of college I had a friend who had a fake ID and would go to bars with her older friends and get served. Granted, she was not as mature as someone who was drinking should be, but I do not think that discriminating among ages necessarily helps either.
I know some mature 16-year-olds and some immature 50-year-olds, so the fact that there is a limit on the drinking age doesn’t necessarily mean that every person who is 21 and drinking will be responsible and mature and make the right decisions that come along with being able to drink alcohol. My opinion of this topic is conflicting, because I agree that I do not think seniors in high school should be drinking, but I also do not agree that you can enlist in the Army to protect your country and yet not enjoy a beer on the day you turn 18.
When you turn 18 you are able to not only enlist in the Army, but also leave home, go to college, get married, have children, buy cigarettes and tobacco products, vote in elections, get tattoos and piercings without a parent’s permission, play the lottery, legally change your name and even rent or purchase your first home or apartment. This is why I have such a problem with the drinking age, because some of the things you can do at the legal age can quite literally kill you (like smoking cigarettes), but no one gives that a second thought. Alcohol may impair your ability to function completely, but if it is drunk in moderation, it can be used for causes of celebration, I feel. In certain cultures and for their rituals, it is even normal for "underage" people to drink.
I just feel as if changing the drinking age from 21 to 18 would save a lot of people a lot of headaches and it would deter young adults from breaking the law just to get a drink and a thrill. On the other hand, alcohol is meant to be consumed by responsible adults, and I believe that providing high schoolers with the opportunity to drink gives underclassmen, and honestly, sometimes even middle school students, the opportunity to drink, as well, because they have access to alcohol through their friends.
I cannot say for sure which side I stand for more, but maybe that is because drinking isn’t really that big of a part of my life, even though I am enrolled in a college where drinking does occur and I am underage still. It does not offend me when people who are underage are drinking because they are not affecting my life in any negative way. Nevertheless, I think the government is trying to do what is best for the overall good of young adults and the people’s lives that they affect by keeping the drinking age at 21.
Kate Sheldon is a junior English major with a concentration in Journalism at California University of Pennsylvania. She is a staff writer for the Cal Times and also keeps a blog.
Imagine living in a world where drinking at the age of 18 were socially acceptable and young men and women were able to legally drink the night of their high school graduation. Some may say that if you are able to serve your country at 18 and risk your life, be able to vote or even get married, then you should be able to enjoy a beer with your friends, too. I don’t necessarily disagree with this statement but I also don’t completely agree with it, either.
When I turned 18, I had just started my freshman year at California University of Pennsylvania. Even if I had been 18 when I was a senior in high school, I still do not believe that I would have been prepared mentally for an action such as legally drinking. I am now in the second semester of my junior year of college and will turn 21 in a few months. I know from experience and from being around college students each day, most of whom are 21 now, that at 18, they would not have been mentally ready to take on the responsibility of drinking in moderation. The maturity of most high schoolers and college students is not up to par with the responsibilities that come along with legally drinking.
I have seen many people make terrible decisions while they were blacked-out drunk, and have known them to be the victims of unnecessary violence. Then, of course, these students become sick from binge drinking and not moderating their drinking whatsoever. The responsibility factor seems to be lacking in most college students and especially at the age of 18. If I can’t trust some of these people to be able to be able to take out their trash when it gets too full or make it to class on time, then why would I trust them in public with alcohol? Why would I trust them to get behind a wheel, even if they have had only one drink? I have seen too many of my friends make stupid decisions because of alcohol, and I know that if the drinking age was lowered, that this would just allow teenagers and young adults to believe that their stupid decisions are justified because it is legal.
On the other hand, however, I have also thought about that regardless of the drinking age, teenagers would still drink whether they are 21 or not. Keeping the drinking age at 21 seems to push teenagers to want to drink in unsafe situations and less controlled environments and experiment with binge drinking, which can potentially lead to more life-endangering and health-threatening behavior. It seems as if it is the mentality of teenagers to choose to ignore that they are committing a crime each time they open a beer or mix a drink. By banning teenagers from participating in an act that is universally understood to be a symbol of adulthood, teenagers, in turn, disrespect the law and do what they want anyway. In many ways, the climate surrounding the current drinking age is similar to that during Prohibition in the 1920s. It is easy to see the culture of speakeasies, rum runners and bathtub gin echoed in the keg parties, pre-gaming, and drinking games of today.
Another thing to consider about the drinking age being 21 is that just because young adults who are 21 or older are not supposed to supply alcohol to minors does not mean that they won’t do so anyway. I have many friends who are not 21, but sure enough, they have alcohol to drink each weekend that they go out to parties because they have given money to someone who was able to buy them alcohol. I also think that underage drinking causes a lot of different types of unnecessary run-ins with the law. I don’t necessarily see anything wrong with a group of friends sitting around someone’s house or apartment hanging out and playing drinking games, but I also do not agree with the people who are underage who go out of their way to be able to drink in public and get served wherever they go.
During my freshman year of college I had a friend who had a fake ID and would go to bars with her older friends and get served. Granted, she was not as mature as someone who was drinking should be, but I do not think that discriminating among ages necessarily helps either.
I know some mature 16-year-olds and some immature 50-year-olds, so the fact that there is a limit on the drinking age doesn’t necessarily mean that every person who is 21 and drinking will be responsible and mature and make the right decisions that come along with being able to drink alcohol. My opinion of this topic is conflicting, because I agree that I do not think seniors in high school should be drinking, but I also do not agree that you can enlist in the Army to protect your country and yet not enjoy a beer on the day you turn 18.
When you turn 18 you are able to not only enlist in the Army, but also leave home, go to college, get married, have children, buy cigarettes and tobacco products, vote in elections, get tattoos and piercings without a parent’s permission, play the lottery, legally change your name and even rent or purchase your first home or apartment. This is why I have such a problem with the drinking age, because some of the things you can do at the legal age can quite literally kill you (like smoking cigarettes), but no one gives that a second thought. Alcohol may impair your ability to function completely, but if it is drunk in moderation, it can be used for causes of celebration, I feel. In certain cultures and for their rituals, it is even normal for "underage" people to drink.
I just feel as if changing the drinking age from 21 to 18 would save a lot of people a lot of headaches and it would deter young adults from breaking the law just to get a drink and a thrill. On the other hand, alcohol is meant to be consumed by responsible adults, and I believe that providing high schoolers with the opportunity to drink gives underclassmen, and honestly, sometimes even middle school students, the opportunity to drink, as well, because they have access to alcohol through their friends.
I cannot say for sure which side I stand for more, but maybe that is because drinking isn’t really that big of a part of my life, even though I am enrolled in a college where drinking does occur and I am underage still. It does not offend me when people who are underage are drinking because they are not affecting my life in any negative way. Nevertheless, I think the government is trying to do what is best for the overall good of young adults and the people’s lives that they affect by keeping the drinking age at 21.
Kate Sheldon is a junior English major with a concentration in Journalism at California University of Pennsylvania. She is a staff writer for the Cal Times and also keeps a blog.