NOOOOO,because the crime rate for drunk drivers and people dieing is already bad enough so by dropping the age limit i think its going to get worst if they do.
I honestly think that age and maturity are the same someone can be 18 and be more cautious than a 22 year old when it comes to drinking so yes I think it should be legal to drink at 18 but not just for the sole purpose of getting "wasted" but the freedom granted as an adult if your legal when you turn 18 shouldn't you be considered an adult to drink??
to begin, there is one question missing from this segment, or maybe i just didnt catch it, to the gentlemen. " you drank at 18, you grew up in that time. do you feel like you would be a better or wiser person today had the drinking age been 21?
breaking the law isnt right, but trying to change it certainly is. start the video at 11:45. this is exactly the approach that not only we as a country need but the world needs. not only a lowering of the age but a more practical approach, if your not smart enough to understand alcohol, you shouldnt be drinking it. abuse the privilege, your done. practical, and easy to enforce.
a point made was that since the raising of the drinking age highway deaths have dropped among 18-24 year olds, glad to hear it. but now the amount of deaths due to excessive drinking is rising, meaning no driving invovled. what the old man,cant remember his name, for the 21 and up drinking age cant grasp is that people are to wasted to even get in their cars anymore. not to be blunt, but thats a real problem.
I completely agree with the professor's ideas about lowering the drinking age. The problem with drinking is not drinking before 21 but the dangers of drinking and driving and binge drinking! If safe and responsible drinking was taught at a younger age than 21 then that would in turn drastically decrease the drinking and driving rate and the fatalities from binge drinking! Almost every other county has an 18 year old drinking age and it works great, the problem in America is that prior to 21, no safe or monitored drinking is allowed! I'm enlisted in the marines at 17 and once i graduate i can go over seas and risk my life for America, but legally i cannot enjoy alcohol; I'm sure the majority of the population would agree with the unfairness of these laws. Trying to enforce these laws is a battle that is at a stalemate, alcohol has been around for thousands of years and its not going anywhere. Drinking is a big part of cultural society and when consumed responsibly it can be very enjoyable, but when it is abused it can have extremely bad consequences! That is where we need to draw the line and stop the ridiculous enforcement of absurd laws and start preaching the safe ways to enjoy alcohol! Chance Williams completely agrees with everything I've stated
People are going to drink when they want. You set rules incriminating the drinking policy, then there will be the consequence of under age drinking because teens like to break rules. Unfortunately, the government can't set the rule according each individuals maturity level. So they take the average and set the limit there. That's why it's 21 and not 18. We portray a lack of responsibility and this is what we get. Do I like it? No. But everything is cause and effect. Makes me wonder why they haven't raised the age to 25 to be honest.
I have pulled up a few statistics about youth drinking. I found them to be very eye opening.
People age 12 to 20 years drink almost 20% of all alcohol consumed in the U.S., with over 90% of this alcohol consumed in the form of high-risk drinking.
There were over 142,000 emergency room visits by youth aged 12 to 20 years for reasons related to alcohol in 2004.
Individuals who begin drinking before age 15 are five times more likely to develop alcohol dependence or abuse later in life than those who start drinking at the legal age of 21.
Each day in the U.S., over 5,400 children under the age of 16 have their first full drink of alcohol.
On average, youth between the ages of 12 and 17 begin to drink at 13 years old.
48% of alcohol use reported by college and university students is consumed by those who are underage.
It is estimated that underage drinking accounts for 12-20% of the U.S. alcohol market.
About 10.8 million youth between the ages of 12 and 20 have had a drink in the past month.
Three teens are killed daily while drunk driving.
Sexually-active teenage females who participate in high-risk drinking are 63% more likely to become teen mothers.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that
4,554 underage deaths occur each year due to excessive alcohol use.
Underage high-risk drinkers are more than twice as likely as non-drinkers to report having attempted to injure themselves or having contemplated or attempted to commit suicide.
Costs associated with youth drinking are an estimated $53 billion annually (includes costs to society such as medical care costs and lost productivity, as well as costs to the underage drinker).
One in four teenagers have attended parties where minors were drinking in front of parents.
Nearly one in four teens have said that their parents have supplied them with alcohol.
About one in four parents that have children age 12 to 20 agree that teens should be able to drink at home with their parents present.
Nine out of ten parents believe that teens could most likely obtain alcohol using a fake ID, but only one-third of teens believe it would be easy.
Alcohol use has been implicated in at least half of the rapes reported by college and university women.
Underage youth are able to purchase alcohol in about 30-50% of purchase attempts, either from commercial sources or social sources.
57% of underage college and university drinkers have reported paying less than $1 for a drink, got it free, or paid a set price for an unlimited number of drinks.
One-third of high school students have reported riding with a driver who had been drinking at least once in the last month.
So after you read ALL those stats there are still those people who say "Well if it was it illegal we won't have these problems. Teens would drink less because they feel like they don't have to rebel anymore." Well here is a link that puts that thought to rest.
The Graph shows that every other major country that has a lower drinking age (with the exception of Turkey) drinks WAY MORE than the USA. Some lowering it will just make it worse. I think that the big problem is that high school has a lot of peer pressure so you drink and you drink big. And as you go through college and enter adulthood you have a gradually diminishing amount of peer pressure. So I think that 21 is a prefect age. And also personally I don't like alcohol at all. I have seen people killed by it, families destroyed by it, it is a major cause of crime, it kills brain cells and it is just in general. I think my views are best expressed in a song. Please click the link and enjoy the music. (don't worry Mister Fitz I swear it's clean)
Oh and here are the sources that I got those stats from:
Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, American Medical Association, The University of Minnesota (Alcohol Epidemiology Program) and Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (Office of Applied Studies).
Everybody constantly hears about the drinking age being of no use, because a high pecentage of teenagers go to parties and drink. So what is the point in having an age limit, it doesn't prevent anyone. Even though I don't drink or party but I know a lot of people who do. I feel that changing the policy could lower the crime rate, but at the same time raise it because there is already so much drunk driving, and other crimes involved with drinking. People my age tend to feel like they are invinceible and nothing will happen if they drive drunk, so I believe there needs to be some like teaching that limits to how much one drinks, and how dangerous driving any vechile drunk is dangerous. Hopefully preventing deadly unintentional actions that some people do. Even when someone sets up a party, be prepared have someone take up everyone's keys or even bring like a designated driver with you just in case. Thats why I believe they haven't lowered the age because they believe that we are too irresponsible.
I really have to be honest this one. If someone offers me a drink, and I'm not 21, I wouldn't drink it. But if the law changes to 18, I would drink it just to with the flow. I know many party people (they're under 20), and they don't really care about the drinking age, they will drink whenever they want. I think the government keeps the drinking age now for the people like me. Just because it seems like every minors drink before they hit 21 and they cause problems and the drinking age right now it one factor, doesn't mean lowering it is only one solution. By lowering it, it will only give a legal reasons to drink, and I don't mind drinking if they lower it to 18. See, the government just added one more minor drinker! Thanks!
im neutral on this topic. because drinking age is no affecting for me. i cant drink any kind of alcohols. if i drink just one swallow of it, my face would turn so red and feel like all blood in my body gethering in my head. therefore, i dont care about drinking age stuff. even if drinking age is 50 or above.
but, i know government isnt stupid. they limited the age as 21 cause theres a reason like in biologic or psycologic.
People are going to drink, regardless of the age. People binge drink at 35, so we can't say that changing the limit to 18 will stop the worst drinkers. I think there should be exceptions to the rules. For instance, if you are in the military, you should be allowed to drink. Allowing all 18 year olds to drink legally though, could cause a lot of problems. Maybe we should have to have a license to drink. We should have to take a class in high school and experience it before we end up doing it underground. I think the professor has the right idea. It most defintely would help with the abuse of alcohol, but not completely eliminate it. Of course, what would? Well, I doubt it will change anytime soon so we'll just have to deal with how it is.
This is a very complicated issue, because there isn't one answer that is completely right. Both sides to this argument make good points, but I don't think ether one is the answer. The drinking age as it is, obviously isn't preventing underage drinking. However I don't think just raising it will solve everything. I think the idea of a class you must take, and then be approved to drink, is a very good idea. We have a lot of the drinking related problems we do because people drink irresponsibly, and if we could educate people on how drink responsibly we might save a lot of lives.
I think the drinking age should be 18. I turn 18 in less than one month, I'll be able to vote, go to "big boy" jail, die for my country, and even indulge in tobacco products if I choose. Oh! I can also marry without parental consent. I'm sure there's more, but i won't be able enjoy a drink after a long day... despite the fact that i've had parental consent in doing so for the past 2 years. My dad got to start drinking when he was 18 and he turned out just fine. I'm not going to say Kids are going to underage drink because its not just kids. It's young adults and college students that partake in underage drinking as well. But people are going to do what they want to do. And I think the 21 drinking age is unconstitutional, it's unequal to allow some adults to drink and others to not. I'm considered an adult at18 and should be treated as one. I also think the drinking license is a great idea. I think it would make you adults more responsible with their drinking.
I believe the legal drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18. The maturity of an 18 year old is not that different from someone who is 21. I agree with the college professor, people should be educated about the dangers of drinking. If people were required to take a class or something before they were legal to drink, then it would encourage safe drinking.
I think the drinking age should be lowered because the same amount of people are drinking as well as drinking and driving. The only difference is people who arent 21 have to drink "underground". For example, instead of going to a bar and having a few beers people who arent 21 go to parties or somewhere where they know they can drink and drink to excess and then drive home.
In some instances I think that the drinking age not being 18 promotes underage drinking. Since alcohol isn't as accessible to those who aren't 21 they will take every chance they can to go out drinking and partying. Where as someone who is 21 does't think its that big of a deal because they can go out any night and have a few drinks.
I think the drinking age should be lowered to 18 because then you can learn your limit and know what the effects of alcohol have on you personaly. That way you dont go off into the real world or college and just start drinking crazy amounts of alcohol because you dont know what will happen. You also wont have your parents telling you not to do it so you are more likly to drink too much and injure yourself or put your self at risk of alcohol poisining. And also if you are 18 and you go to a party and there is someone who looks sick you will be able to call the ambulance with out getting into trouble but if you are drinking underage you might not call because you dont want to get into trouble and that someone mightt die.
yes the age should be knocked down to 18 because if you gain all of your rights at the age of 18 and become legal to vote and live on your own.. then we should have the freedom to drink or make other choices in life..
Yes, I think that the drinking age should be changed to 18. Kids that are under 21 are finding ways to drink anyway. But they are doing it behind closed doors and that's making it more dangerous. If something happens while they are drinking and under age, they think it would be worse to get caught drinking than for someone they see to get hurt. If kids are doing it either way, the drinking age should be lowered so that way they wouldn't have to hide it. I also think a lot of kids drink because they think it's fun to sneak around and break rules. Maybe it wouldn't be such a big deal if they were aloud to do it.
NOOOOO,because the crime rate for drunk drivers and people dieing is already bad enough so by dropping the age limit i think its going to get worst if they do.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think that age and maturity are the same someone can be 18 and be more cautious than a 22 year old when it comes to drinking so yes I think it should be legal to drink at 18 but not just for the sole purpose of getting "wasted" but the freedom granted as an adult if your legal when you turn 18 shouldn't you be considered an adult to drink??
ReplyDeleteto begin, there is one question missing from this segment, or maybe i just didnt catch it, to the gentlemen. " you drank at 18, you grew up in that time. do you feel like you would be a better or wiser person today had the drinking age been 21?
ReplyDeletebreaking the law isnt right, but trying to change it certainly is. start the video at 11:45. this is exactly the approach that not only we as a country need but the world needs. not only a lowering of the age but a more practical approach, if your not smart enough to understand alcohol, you shouldnt be drinking it. abuse the privilege, your done. practical, and easy to enforce.
a point made was that since the raising of the drinking age highway deaths have dropped among 18-24 year olds, glad to hear it. but now the amount of deaths due to excessive drinking is rising, meaning no driving invovled. what the old man,cant remember his name, for the 21 and up drinking age cant grasp is that people are to wasted to even get in their cars anymore. not to be blunt, but thats a real problem.
I completely agree with the professor's ideas about lowering the drinking age. The problem with drinking is not drinking before 21 but the dangers of drinking and driving and binge drinking! If safe and responsible drinking was taught at a younger age than 21 then that would in turn drastically decrease the drinking and driving rate and the fatalities from binge drinking! Almost every other county has an 18 year old drinking age and it works great, the problem in America is that prior to 21, no safe or monitored drinking is allowed! I'm enlisted in the marines at 17 and once i graduate i can go over seas and risk my life for America, but legally i cannot enjoy alcohol; I'm sure the majority of the population would agree with the unfairness of these laws. Trying to enforce these laws is a battle that is at a stalemate, alcohol has been around for thousands of years and its not going anywhere. Drinking is a big part of cultural society and when consumed responsibly it can be very enjoyable, but when it is abused it can have extremely bad consequences! That is where we need to draw the line and stop the ridiculous enforcement of absurd laws and start preaching the safe ways to enjoy alcohol!
ReplyDeleteChance Williams completely agrees with everything I've stated
People are going to drink when they want. You set rules incriminating the drinking policy, then there will be the consequence of under age drinking because teens like to break rules.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the government can't set the rule according each individuals maturity level. So they take the average and set the limit there. That's why it's 21 and not 18. We portray a lack of responsibility and this is what we get.
Do I like it? No. But everything is cause and effect. Makes me wonder why they haven't raised the age to 25 to be honest.
I have pulled up a few statistics about youth drinking. I found them to be very eye opening.
ReplyDeletePeople age 12 to 20 years drink almost 20% of all alcohol consumed in the U.S., with over 90% of this alcohol consumed in the form of high-risk drinking.
There were over 142,000 emergency room visits by youth aged 12 to 20 years for reasons related to alcohol in 2004.
Individuals who begin drinking before age 15 are five times more likely to develop alcohol dependence or abuse later in life than those who start drinking at the legal age of 21.
Each day in the U.S., over 5,400 children under the age of 16 have their first full drink of alcohol.
On average, youth between the ages of 12 and 17 begin to drink at 13 years old.
48% of alcohol use reported by college and university students is consumed by those who are underage.
It is estimated that underage drinking accounts for 12-20% of the U.S. alcohol market.
About 10.8 million youth between the ages of 12 and 20 have had a drink in the past month.
Three teens are killed daily while drunk driving.
Sexually-active teenage females who participate in high-risk drinking
are 63% more likely to become teen mothers.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that
4,554 underage deaths occur each year due to excessive alcohol use.
Underage high-risk drinkers are more than twice as likely as non-drinkers to report having attempted to injure themselves or having contemplated or attempted to commit suicide.
Costs associated with youth drinking are an estimated $53 billion annually (includes costs to society such as medical care costs and lost productivity, as well as costs to the underage drinker).
One in four teenagers have attended parties where minors were drinking in front of parents.
Nearly one in four teens have said that their parents have supplied them with alcohol.
About one in four parents that have children age 12 to 20 agree that teens should be able to drink at home with their parents present.
Nine out of ten parents believe that teens could most likely obtain alcohol using a fake ID, but only one-third of teens believe it would be easy.
Alcohol use has been implicated in at least half of the rapes reported by college and university women.
Underage youth are able to purchase alcohol in about 30-50% of purchase attempts, either from commercial sources or social sources.
57% of underage college and university drinkers have reported paying less than $1 for a drink, got it free, or paid a set price for an unlimited number of drinks.
One-third of high school students have reported riding with a driver who had been drinking at least once in the last month.
So after you read ALL those stats there are still those people who say "Well if it was it illegal we won't have these problems. Teens would drink less because they feel like they don't have to rebel anymore." Well here is a link that puts that thought to rest.
http://www.dontletminorsdrink.com/reportsresearch/underagedrinking.shtml .
The Graph shows that every other major country that has a lower drinking age (with the exception of Turkey) drinks WAY MORE than the USA. Some lowering it will just make it worse. I think that the big problem is that high school has a lot of peer pressure so you drink and you drink big. And as you go through college and enter adulthood you have a gradually diminishing amount of peer pressure. So I think that 21 is a prefect age. And also personally I don't like alcohol at all. I have seen people killed by it, families destroyed by it, it is a major cause of crime, it kills brain cells and it is just in general. I think my views are best expressed in a song. Please click the link and enjoy the music. (don't worry Mister Fitz I swear it's clean)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4a6I1bJtBg
Oh and here are the sources that I got those stats from:
ReplyDeleteSources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, American Medical Association, The University of Minnesota (Alcohol Epidemiology Program) and Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (Office of Applied Studies).
Mr. Fitz you missed out so bad on the game last friday, it was off the chain!!!
ReplyDeleteEverybody constantly hears about the drinking age being of no use, because a high pecentage of teenagers go to parties and drink. So what is the point in having an age limit, it doesn't prevent anyone. Even though I don't drink or party but I know a lot of people who do. I feel that changing the policy could lower the crime rate, but at the same time raise it because there is already so much drunk driving, and other crimes involved with drinking. People my age tend to feel like they are invinceible and nothing will happen if they drive drunk, so I believe there needs to be some like teaching that limits to how much one drinks, and how dangerous driving any vechile drunk is dangerous. Hopefully preventing deadly unintentional actions that some people do. Even when someone sets up a party, be prepared have someone take up everyone's keys or even bring like a designated driver with you just in case. Thats why I believe they haven't lowered the age because they believe that we are too irresponsible.
ReplyDeleteI really have to be honest this one.
ReplyDeleteIf someone offers me a drink, and I'm not 21, I wouldn't drink it. But if the law changes to 18, I would drink it just to with the flow. I know many party people (they're under 20), and they don't really care about the drinking age, they will drink whenever they want. I think the government keeps the drinking age now for the people like me.
Just because it seems like every minors drink before they hit 21 and they cause problems and the drinking age right now it one factor, doesn't mean lowering it is only one solution.
By lowering it, it will only give a legal reasons to drink, and I don't mind drinking if they lower it to 18. See, the government just added one more minor drinker! Thanks!
im neutral on this topic. because drinking age is no affecting for me. i cant drink any kind of alcohols. if i drink just one swallow of it, my face would turn so red and feel like all blood in my body gethering in my head. therefore, i dont care about drinking age stuff. even if drinking age is 50 or above.
ReplyDeletebut, i know government isnt stupid. they limited the age as 21 cause theres a reason like in biologic or psycologic.
People are going to drink, regardless of the age. People binge drink at 35, so we can't say that changing the limit to 18 will stop the worst drinkers. I think there should be exceptions to the rules. For instance, if you are in the military, you should be allowed to drink. Allowing all 18 year olds to drink legally though, could cause a lot of problems. Maybe we should have to have a license to drink. We should have to take a class in high school and experience it before we end up doing it underground. I think the professor has the right idea. It most defintely would help with the abuse of alcohol, but not completely eliminate it. Of course, what would? Well, I doubt it will change anytime soon so we'll just have to deal with how it is.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very complicated issue, because there isn't one answer that is completely right. Both sides to this argument make good points, but I don't think ether one is the answer. The drinking age as it is, obviously isn't preventing underage drinking. However I don't think just raising it will solve everything. I think the idea of a class you must take, and then be approved to drink, is a very good idea. We have a lot of the drinking related problems we do because people drink irresponsibly, and if we could educate people on how drink responsibly we might save a lot of lives.
ReplyDeleteI think the drinking age should be 18. I turn 18 in less than one month, I'll be able to vote, go to "big boy" jail, die for my country, and even indulge in tobacco products if I choose. Oh! I can also marry without parental consent. I'm sure there's more, but i won't be able enjoy a drink after a long day... despite the fact that i've had parental consent in doing so for the past 2 years. My dad got to start drinking when he was 18 and he turned out just fine. I'm not going to say Kids are going to underage drink because its not just kids. It's young adults and college students that partake in underage drinking as well. But people are going to do what they want to do. And I think the 21 drinking age is unconstitutional, it's unequal to allow some adults to drink and others to not. I'm considered an adult at18 and should be treated as one.
ReplyDeleteI also think the drinking license is a great idea. I think it would make you adults more responsible with their drinking.
I believe the legal drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18. The maturity of an 18 year old is not that different from someone who is 21. I agree with the college professor, people should be educated about the dangers of drinking. If people were required to take a class or something before they were legal to drink, then it would encourage safe drinking.
ReplyDeleteI think the drinking age should be lowered because the same amount of people are drinking as well as drinking and driving. The only difference is people who arent 21 have to drink "underground". For example, instead of going to a bar and having a few beers people who arent 21 go to parties or somewhere where they know they can drink and drink to excess and then drive home.
ReplyDeleteIn some instances I think that the drinking age not being 18 promotes underage drinking. Since alcohol isn't as accessible to those who aren't 21 they will take every chance they can to go out drinking and partying. Where as someone who is 21 does't think its that big of a deal because they can go out any night and have a few drinks.
Lots of good discussion here. Keep up the good posting. And yes, I missed a great game. I left my ID in the classroom=no admission to game.
ReplyDeleteI think the drinking age should be lowered to 18 because then you can learn your limit and know what the effects of alcohol have on you personaly. That way you dont go off into the real world or college and just start drinking crazy amounts of alcohol because you dont know what will happen. You also wont have your parents telling you not to do it so you are more likly to drink too much and injure yourself or put your self at risk of alcohol poisining. And also if you are 18 and you go to a party and there is someone who looks sick you will be able to call the ambulance with out getting into trouble but if you are drinking underage you might not call because you dont want to get into trouble and that someone mightt die.
ReplyDeleteyes the age should be knocked down to 18 because if you gain all of your rights at the age of 18 and become legal to vote and live on your own.. then we should have the freedom to drink or make other choices in life..
ReplyDeleteYes, I think that the drinking age should be changed to 18. Kids that are under 21 are finding ways to drink anyway. But they are doing it behind closed doors and that's making it more dangerous. If something happens while they are drinking and under age, they think it would be worse to get caught drinking than for someone they see to get hurt. If kids are doing it either way, the drinking age should be lowered so that way they wouldn't have to hide it. I also think a lot of kids drink because they think it's fun to sneak around and break rules. Maybe it wouldn't be such a big deal if they were aloud to do it.
ReplyDelete