Student Discussion: Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered to 18?
September 25, 2017
Throughout the years, there has been a huge discussion and debate among young adults about whether the drinking age should be lowered to 18. After asking a total of eighty students in all four grade levels, we found that roughly seventeen freshman students including both male and female disagreed with having the drinking age lowered.
“Lowering the drinking age may give younger children the wrong idea that it’s not harmful”, believes freshman Olivia Monisera. Adding on we had sophomore Michael Goldman tell us, “Alcohol is a dangerous substance so it should stay at 21 especially because most teenagers tend to abuse it already”.
Sophomore Eric Tam told us lowering the drinking age “would increase reckless behavior while driving because they would have poor judgment on how much they really drank.”
But there were those who disagreed as well.
“I think there are double aspects to it because one your brain isn’t fully developed until you’re in your mid-20s so you shouldn’t be taking any substances until that age,” said freshman Kendra Levendusky. She added, however that in other cultures, kids drink at earlier ages safely with their parents’ approval as is the practice in Europe, “I think it should just be a choice and not up to people in office for when you can and cannot do something.”
Turning 18 in the United States makes one legally an adult in the eyes of the law, and permits the argument that adults should be able to make their own decisions about alcohol and how much they want to consume comes up.
According to most juniors and seniors, if Americans are allowed to vote and join the military at the age of 18, they should be allowed to drink as well. Junior Joe Dale tells us, “If you are smart with it then you really can’t hurt yourself.”
Underage drinking is common here in the United States. Many juniors seemed to believe that if they had easier access to alcohol, they would not feel the need to be excessively drinking when given the opportunity.
“It is better for kids to learn how to drink with family and to know their limits, rather than over drinking and blacking out,” says high school senior Liza Zachmann.
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Jonathan Scouler-Academic Discussion • Jan 30, 2018 at 9:58 AM
About 60% of countries in the world have a drinking age of 18 to 19, yet the US continues to have a higher age of 21. While there are many benefits that come with the higher age, such as fewer accidents and healthier brain development to name a few, there are also many negative aspects.
One of the biggest issues with the drinking age of 21 is that when underage people do drink, they drink more irresponsibly as underage drinking has a “forbidden fruit” aspect to it. This causes people to binge drink and drink in risky situations that could be avoided if drinking were allowed at younger ages when kids start sneaking it anyway.
According to The Recovery Village 11% of alcohol consumed is consumed by underage drinking. The US drinking age really does not stop underage drinking; the majority of people have tried alcohol at some point either in college, home, or with friends before 21. By lowering the drinking age, many issues with unsafe drinking could be improved as the “forbidden fruit” aspect would be smaller.
In places such as Germany the drinking age helps to ease people into drinking and creates a safer culture around alcohol and drinking. In Germany people can drink beer and wine with parents at the age of 14, independently at 16, and at 18 they can drink hard alcohol. This method of easing into drinking is a great example of something the US should consider with lowering the drinking age.