The question of the drinking age has long been a controversial issue, particularly on college campuses where drinking dominates the social scene. Those who argue the drinking age should stay 21 usually rely on incidents of alcohol abuse and statistics. They make claims that drinking has decreased since the 70s when the age was 18. Therefore, the law is effective and normatively good. What many of those supports don’t realize is how easy it is to access alcohol, regardless of this law.
From my experiences in the first two months of college life, I can tell you that attitudes towards alcohol vary drastically from person to person. Additionally, they are usually reflections of one’s high school experiences.
Because of a law that prohibits youths from legally drinking, many law-abiding students get to college and typically don’t know how to handle themselves. The prolific presence of alcohol at social functions on a college campus is a new phenomenon for many freshmen students, who then are unable to show moderation in their consumption.
I’m not saying those who partied through high school have much more resistance, but they certainly know more about their limits. In any case, the high drinking age actually makes many students more vulnerable to dangers. Without a knowledge of their limits, many freshmen begin to drink, and the result is a total loss of control. This is more a function of the lack of contact with alcohol due to legal restrictions rather than a desire to be belligerent or unsafe.
Furthermore, alcohol is so accessible on college campuses that if you want to go drink at a party, no problem, but if you want to go drink while at dinner with your friends and you don’t have a fake, good luck. Now does that really seem fair? Would it not be more reasonable to promote legal drinking in areas that have limiting social standards?
If we can heroically go to war and live independently as adults at the age of 18, why should we not be viewed as responsible enough to handle our drinks? The United States government can’t seem to make up its mind—are we children, or are we adults?
As the argument to lower the drinking age pervades college campuses and communities, I hope the government can finally come to an agreement on the issue. If other countries trust their population to respect alcohol limits, why can’t we at least try it? The government could even make some profit off of it – instead of changing the law, just change the prices. Isn’t that what we usually do?
Alex Stambaugh is a freshman political science and economics major. She can be reached for comments or questions at [email protected].
