"By denying the obvious pleasure of drinking and not teaching it by example, is anyone really surprised that we've loosed upon the world a generation of feral drunks?" –Jack Hitt.
The legal drinking age ought to be lowered for several reasons: proper education, past experiences, and the law's inability to stop the consumption of alcohol by minors. Proper education of minors on the topic of drinking responsibly is exactly what is needed in this day and age. Young adults go to college and lose themselves in binge drinking, something they could avoid if they were more educated on this manor. Colleges around the country are starting to step up and take responsibility by making students partake in a mandatory class on D2L called "Alcohol and College Life", which teaches students to drink responsibility and several ways to make sure they won't harm themselves. These classes are extremely informative, teaching students everything from how to deal with a hangover, to the consequences of drinking irresponsibly. Furthermore, in other countries alcohol isn't treated as a "forbidden fruit" to teenagers and youths are allowed to drink. Because of this, and we'll use Sweden due to personal experience, the number of accidents involving drunken driving is significantly lower than in the US. There are several reasons for this, but the main reason is education. Swedish kids are taught to drink responsibly by following the examples of their elders. Unlike in the US, where underage drinking is punished heavily and children are taught that drinking is bad, thus leading to the "forbidden fruit" state of mind.
Our second reason, past experiences in history, gives us a look at what happened during Prohibition. As everyone knows from their US History classes, when Prohibition was instated, it merely encouraged people to go "underground" to drink. Due to the lack of alcohol being sold, moonshine, a very, very potent and highly illegal drink, was created and because of this, fights broke out and organized crime was on the rise; this lead to protests, violence, and deaths. We see the same things happening today in the drug war. Because, and we'll use marijuana as an example, marijuana is illegal, it is highly sought after and people go to great lengths to get it. As we see with what is happening in Mexico, drug trafficking is on the rise and so is the violence attributed to it. Organizations want money, but have to smuggle and traffic drugs across the border to get it. People get caught doing it and get in trouble. Fights break out and people die. The slippery slope in not lowering the drinking age is that people will get alcohol no matter what, and inevitably some will get caught, some will fight, and some could die.
Lastly, we will talk about the law itself. According to the opening article on "Debating the Drinking Age" in Back to the Lake the current law only prohibits the sale or purchase by minors and possession of alcohol in public by minors. It does not, however, prohibit the consumption of alcohol by young people. Therefore, this law is counterintuitive. It will not, and historically has not, stopped young people from drinking. Based on all of this evidence, it is easy to see that the drinking age ought to be lowered.
Our second reason, past experiences in history, gives us a look at what happened during Prohibition. As everyone knows from their US History classes, when Prohibition was instated, it merely encouraged people to go "underground" to drink. Due to the lack of alcohol being sold, moonshine, a very, very potent and highly illegal drink, was created and because of this, fights broke out and organized crime was on the rise; this lead to protests, violence, and deaths. We see the same things happening today in the drug war. Because, and we'll use marijuana as an example, marijuana is illegal, it is highly sought after and people go to great lengths to get it. As we see with what is happening in Mexico, drug trafficking is on the rise and so is the violence attributed to it. Organizations want money, but have to smuggle and traffic drugs across the border to get it. People get caught doing it and get in trouble. Fights break out and people die. The slippery slope in not lowering the drinking age is that people will get alcohol no matter what, and inevitably some will get caught, some will fight, and some could die.
Lastly, we will talk about the law itself. According to the opening article on "Debating the Drinking Age" in Back to the Lake the current law only prohibits the sale or purchase by minors and possession of alcohol in public by minors. It does not, however, prohibit the consumption of alcohol by young people. Therefore, this law is counterintuitive. It will not, and historically has not, stopped young people from drinking. Based on all of this evidence, it is easy to see that the drinking age ought to be lowered.
We will post the rebuttal in another post.
-Mallory, Alecksandra
Wow..you guys certainly had a lot of information! Although you never mentioned what age you think would be appropriate or the ages of children in Sweden...can they all drink? I agree that alcohol is often viewed as the "forbidden fruit" but I don't think changing the drinking age is going to change that view. I also don't think the D2L message is getting through to underage college students, I transport way too many drunk students to the hospital!
ReplyDeleteHi guys, good analysis. I think you did a great job explaining that alcohol being “the forbidden fruit” is more tempting for students. In fact, I am agree. In my country is normal to “taste” alcoholics beverage when you are a teenager. It never was forbidden for me, and I never really felt tempted to drink it.
ReplyDeleteI like how you came up with the analogy of the forbidden fruit. That is a great way to put things in perspective. I would have liked to know what you guys thought would be an appropriate age to drink at even though you may not entirely agree with it and possibly a reason. Your I thought you went a little off track with the mentioning of illegal substances
ReplyDeleteI love the way you guys presented the fact that minors are already drinking and so in order to preserve the dignity of the law, thet drinking age be lowered. The stance that the solution to drinking is not really age per se but on education is great. You carried your argument to a reasonable conclusion even though you were on a hot spot because I believe an avarage American will do all he/she can to dessaude his minor child from drinking.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
John Nwabugwu.
Thank you everyone. We were going to put 18 or 19 as an appropriate age, but we didn't think it especially relevant to state a number. Perhaps we were wrong.
ReplyDelete-Mallory
Jacqueline, I like your point that this group need to be precise with the age they recommend for drinking. But I believe they intend to say that 21 is all the way up for drinking. I however think they want to leave room for futher argument in this matter.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
John N
I think it is absolutely wrong to take alcohol as the forbidden tree. It is a falacy of wrong analogy. The word forbibben tree is a complete realative case. What you consider forbidden may be unforbidden to many people. So, alcohol is not the forbidden tree. many theologian has even seen having sex without your duelly married partner as the unforbidden tree. so?
ReplyDeleteThanks.
John N.
For 18 or 19 is even higher if you intend to really lower the age because teens aready break the law by drinking. Lots of 13 years are aready there. I am not advocating for teen drinking. But in our contest, 18 or 19 is still high.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
John N
I have problem agreeing with your interpretation of the law that the law prohibits selling or buying alcoho; by minors but does not prohibit them from drinking it. By saying that they should not buy or sell it, it implies they are legally not suppose to drink it.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
John N
I thanks the group that wrote on people having equal opportunity to strive in the US. they information they give about native American are very relavant. I never knew that. So it also educative in terms of history.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
John N
I really like the way this response integrates both cultural experiences and the readings. It's one of the best ones yet. Good work.
ReplyDeleteJohn, "forbidden fruit" is a metaphor that can be used in several arguments.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if the law doesn't say it, than it's a loophole. Perhaps the law should be more precise in what it means.
Nothing is implied in the law.
For instance, the law doesn't say we have to pay our income taxes, yet it is implied that we should. If you don't pay income tax, they can't do anything about it.