The legal drinking age for the United States should be moved back down to 18 in order to restore fairness and abolish many underage drinking problems. At age 18, the United States considers a person to be an ‘adult’. With this title comes many responsibilities and privileges, excluding the consumption of alcohol. For example, at the age of 18, an individual can “marry, adopt children, serve on juries, enter into binding legal contracts, operate businesses, employ others, go to prison, be executed, obtain abortions, engage in legal games of chance (gamble), hunt with deadly weapons, fly airplanes, drive automobiles and other vehicles, purchase pornography, vote, and risk their lives by serving in the United States military”(Hanson). Underage drinking rates are lowering over the years, which show the responsibility and maturity of these people. Yet is said that the underage tend to drink in a more obscene manner than people of a legal drinking age. This fact is thought to be in strong accord with the affects of the Prohibition. People that are denied a certain substance like alcohol will tend to abuse it when the opportunity to obtain it presents itself. The United States is one of the few countries in the world with the legal drinking age of 21, and therefore should lower the legal drinking age to 18.
Source:
Underage Kids or Military Heroes? David J. Hanson, Ph.D.
http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Controversies/1101839726.html
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Brief for the Mediation Paper
Posted by Meredith at 9:38 PM
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5 comments:
This is a very good argument because it has a lot of evidence that can be used to prove your thesis. Although you focused on all of the other rights that 'adults' receive at the age of 18, I think that there is a lot more valid evidence that could be used. For example, you should definitely talk about how high the crime, injuries/deaths, and abuse problems that are associated with alcohol are when compared to places like Canada, who has a drinking age of 18 and 19. Your reasoning about how resistance to drinking causes more alcohol abuse is very valid and will really make a thorough point in your argument. Also, I would make sure you do a lot of research about this subject because there is a TON of statistics about this information that could be used to help you. Another point to use would be to talk about how the police force is so 'gung-ho' on prosecuting underage drinking when they could be focusing on more important issues, such as murders and rapes. One rebuttal that you may need to address in your argument is the fact that responsible drinking may need to be taught if the drinking age was lowered. Hope this helps and good luck on your paper; this is a really good thesis that will be really easy to argue because of all the valid reasons behind it!
Hi Meredith,
Your brief is really interesting and I think that your bring up some really good points. I think that your information is a good start, I think to make your argument work you will probably need to compare to something other than other activities that 18 year olds can engage in, not everything you listed can alter a persons conscious and I believe that is a main concern when the subject of drinking comes up. There is also a lot of biological evidence out that says people under the age of 21 aren't biologically capable of drinking, i think it would be a good idea to address this.
I think you have a great start and can base a great argument off this building block. Good luck with the rest of the mediation and negotiation process. Thanks, Hope this Helps! Cammie Naylor (P.S. I'm a student in Mr. Millions other class)
You have a lot of good points of why you believe that the legal drinking age should be 18 years old. I do believe that many young adults that are 18 years old should not be allowed to do many things such as adopt children, vote, fly airplanes, and so on. At the age of 18, you are simply not mature enough to make the most reasonable and responsible decision. Most individuals that are under the age of 21 haven't given their brains the sufficient amount of time to develop. They are more likely to make the wrong/bad judgments that could be life threatening to them and to others. Alcohol can be a dangerous thing when it is used irresponsibly and if people can not be mature about drinking then they should not be allowed to do so. Many 18 year olds are honestly not mature enough to know when they have had too much to drink and when they are capable of driving after they have been drinking.
Other countries have lower drinking ages and it is not as big of an issue there as it is here. Many countries have more accessibility to public transportation such as bus systems, trains, taxis, etc. and people typically use public transportation rather than driving their personal automobiles. So, the rates of drunk driving incidents are reduced in those countries. And also the legal age of being able to have a driver's license is higher than our legal age in South Carolina which is 15 years old to have a permit and around 16 years old you get your restricted license then after six months you can get your full driver's license.
This is a good argument because you have provided very good points on why 18 year olds are considered adults. I would do more research and provide more examples of why the legal age should be lowered
I do not believe that changing the legal drinking age back to 18 years old would help solve the problems of underage drinking. If the legal drinking age is changed to 18, then those individuals that are 18 will not be breaking the law by consuming alcohol, but what about the 16 year olds that want to drink? No matter what the drinking age is there will always be teenagers that are considered underage that will illegally drink. If the 18 year olds still in high school are legal to purchase alcohol, they will be more likely to buy alcohol for younger teens in their high school; they could buy it for a younger sibling and their friends. I don't think that 18 year olds are mature enough to know that purchasing alcohol for younger teens could jeopardize their own lives or the lives of those young teens. Since the brain isn't fully developed until the age of 20, the 18 year olds are more likely to make bad judgments and wrong decisions about consuming alcohol or while under the influence of alcohol. If teenagers were taught how to responsibly drink, then the legal drinking age would be more acceptable set at the age of 18.
Since teens do not understand the effects of alcohol on their body, many young teens assume that they are capable of driving after they have been drinking. Back in 1982, when many of the states had minimum drinking ages of 18, 55% of all fatal crashes of youth drivers involved alcohol. Since then, the alcohol-related traffic fatality rate has been cut in half (MADD). The rates of drunk-driving incidents would only skyrocket if the legal drinking age was 18. It's obvious that teenagers are not quite responsible enough to consume alcohol.
If young teens begin drinking at a younger age, then they are more likely to have alcohol or drug problems in the future compared to individuals that begin drinking at the age of 21. Although it is irrelevant to think that a person would not have a single drink before the age of 21, but if they are legally able to drink whenever they wanted at a younger age then they are more likely to continue drinking and develop more problems such as alcoholism. People who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcoholism than those who begin at 21 (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism).
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