In my opinion, I think that the legal drinking age of alcohol consumption should be moved to the age of 25 instead of the current age of 21. I know that when I turned 21 and was in the beginning stages of learning much fun alcohol was, I was much too young to understand the consequences of my decisions to drink.
Take for example of this irresponsibility in the article in The Austin American Statesman, this 19 year old college student who provided alcohol to three other individuals. As the night progressed, these people thought it would be a good idea to get really wasted and then jump off the 1st floor window. One of the individuals was a 24 year college student as well and she later passed away from this incident with a serious head injury. So what I am saying is that these people have to understand the effects of alcohol and how it impairs their judgement and decision making. I think that every high school senior and/or college freshman should be subject to an alcohol awareness classes and learn about the consequences following your decision making.
So this was just one example that I found in the newspaper. I think that the age of 25 is a good round number to begin the drinking era. One would have to pass these classes on awareness with a standard passing score. I know that a lot of people grow up faster than others but i think 21 is too young to be given that kind of responsibility. I know, in my case, I had a daughter at the age of 23 so responsibilities quickly shifted from irresponsible to responsible in a matter of months. But not everybody can grow up the same way or experience the same thing that I did.
So in my view of concern for our young people I think we should go to our legislature and try and get the age of alcohol consumption raised from 21 to 25. I am sure there will be plenty of young people who will not be happy or pleased with this new law if it is passed but it will be for their own good. So once you reach the legal age of drinking, you will most likely be a functioning part of society and be a little more wiser than a 21 year old college student whose goal is to get drunk and then get laid. So now that my daughter is 13 going on 20, I think that my opinion are the laws ought to be re-examined to see if the drinking age should be increased.
My classmate, Jason Ebeling, wrote a post about raising the legal drinking age to 25, titled “Legal Drinking Age 21 or 25?” He proves a valid point that some 21-year-olds are too irresponsible to be drinking, sometimes getting themselves and others killed. What bothers me is that people against 21-year-olds legally drinking tend to provide their argument with horror stories of young people dying due directly or indirectly to alcohol. What do you think normally happens when young people drink? If it’s a story like the one Ebeling wrote about, you might believe too much of what you hear from the media. Most of the time young people drink, situations similar to what happens when their older counterparts drink occur, with a little less maturity.
ReplyDeleteI liked that Ebeling tied the issue to personal experience in his post. It showed he can somewhat relate to a younger and older audience. Regarding the age limit of alcoholic consumption though, unless you’ve had a life-altering experience in between the time you’re 21 and 25 (such as Ebeling having a child), you probably aren’t going to change or mature all that much.
I also noticed that in Ebeling’s blog post, he only had one reason for the legal drinking age to be raised to 25, which was that at 21, people are too irresponsible to handle alcohol. Although I am against the age limit being raised, I would have provided at least one other valid reason for raising the age limit, such as how alcohol can affect a still-developing 21-year-old body.
The age for legal alcoholic consumption is a hot topic that may be changed in our near future in Texas. It is one that the young will be more likely to participate in, which is just what some political observes have been asking for, right? For now, those “irresponsible” 21-24 year olds who are not a “functioning part of society” will just have to continue “[getting] drunk and then get laid.”
In his blog “Legal Drinking Age 21 or 25?” he talks about the drinking age and how it should be raised to 25. Drinking has so many side effects on individuals. Alcohol consumption is linked to many serious crimes and it causes deaths of thousands of people each year. Alcohol damages brain cells if consumed excessively, judgment and the ability to think straight can also become extremely impaired, and it can also cause death. Now, the question is how can we prevent those? I agree with my class mate to some extent that courses about alcohol consumption should be provided and I believe that they should be like any other course we need to take in order to graduate.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand putting more restrictions causes curiosity among youngsters and they want to try it out, even though they are minors. Like drinking age 25 instead of 21, it might cause even more serious problems involving alcohol consumption. Many researcher show that in many countries like Germany where the drinking age is 16 have less serious cases involving alcohol consumption. Alcohol can be consumed anywhere, anytime and it is as cheap water.
So it is not just the drinking age, which needs to be changed in order to avoid problems, there are many other aspects that need to be considered as well and come up with a new system with new laws that meet the multicultural American society.
I do not agree with Mr. Ebeling about changing the drinking age from 21 to 25. Although he provides one good valid argument as in why they should change the drinking age, i do not believe it is enough. The story he provided stating that young people are irresponsible does not, in my opinion make a good enough argument. Yes young people are irresponsible and immature, but at the same time at what age do people really mature or become responsible, at 25? No, everyone matures at a different age, some around their 20s others late 20s and some really never mature. So comparing maturity with a person's age is not a good enough reason to change the drinking age.
ReplyDeleteEven now with what the drinking age is, some people argue that they should change it to 18 because they believe if a person is considered an adult and is able to fight for their country at age 18, then they should be able to legally drink alcohol. In my opinion 21 is a good age for legal consumption of alcohol, because by this age one has already finish high school or receive their GED, and is attending college or working.
If there were more arguments having to deal with health issues, economic issues or even educational issues, then maybe changing the drinking age would not sound like a bad idea. But in reality no matter what the drinking age is whether it stays at 21 or goes up to 25, younger people are still going to find a way to get alcohol. The problem i see with raising the drinking age to 25 is the fact that there will be way more tickets or even arrest for underage drinking. As well as the companies that produce alcohol and the places where alcohol is purchase by an individual will lose a lot of business. The drinking age should just stay at 21, it has been like that for a long while now and problems having to deal with alcohol will still be around no matter what the drinking age is.