Should the Legal Age of Drinking Be Lowered to Eighteen?
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- Category: English: Creative Writing
- Date Submitted: 04/30/2014 07:23 AM
- Pages: 5
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The debate about the legal drinking age in the United States has been going on for a long time. It has been suggested that the present legal age of twenty-one should be changed to eighteen. Supporters argue that if a person can vote, get married without parental consent and take on many other responsibilities, they should also be able to drink alcohol. When it comes to the law, there is always an opinion; some support change while others want the present laws to continue. Many countries in the world have adopted a lower legal age for drinking, and I believe the law in the United States should be similarly changed. Several strong reasons give strength to this argument. I think the legal drinking age in the United States should be eighteen as supported by the following arguments.
Teenagers drink more because the law does not allow them to; they drink to revolt themselves against the law. According to Ruth Clifford Engs, Professor of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Indiana in Bloomington, the consumption of alcohol to adolescents is considered a “forbidden fruit, a badge of rebellion against authority and a symbol of adulthood.” Furthermore, curiosity leads more people under twenty-one to drink anyway. When most college students under twenty-one years old can get drinks through their elders; however, they are not allowed to drink at events where others might be able to drink. This gives them once more the desire to be a rebel and try to join what they are kept away from, so they give it a shot, and often get into binge drinking, which is extremely dangerous in many ways. The fact that they do not know when they will be able to drink again pushes most students to over drink when they get a chance. This leads to more accidents on the road as well as death due to alcohol poisoning. If drinking is made legal for eighteen years and older, it will remove the elements of curiosity and the forbidden fruit. It will be less desired since the fruit is no longer...
Teenagers drink more because the law does not allow them to; they drink to revolt themselves against the law. According to Ruth Clifford Engs, Professor of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Indiana in Bloomington, the consumption of alcohol to adolescents is considered a “forbidden fruit, a badge of rebellion against authority and a symbol of adulthood.” Furthermore, curiosity leads more people under twenty-one to drink anyway. When most college students under twenty-one years old can get drinks through their elders; however, they are not allowed to drink at events where others might be able to drink. This gives them once more the desire to be a rebel and try to join what they are kept away from, so they give it a shot, and often get into binge drinking, which is extremely dangerous in many ways. The fact that they do not know when they will be able to drink again pushes most students to over drink when they get a chance. This leads to more accidents on the road as well as death due to alcohol poisoning. If drinking is made legal for eighteen years and older, it will remove the elements of curiosity and the forbidden fruit. It will be less desired since the fruit is no longer...