Brooke Spillers
Honors English
Period Two
18 March 2016
Adolescent Drinking From the article, “Prohibition” on history.com, drinking alcohol was once prohibited in the United States during the 1920s up until 1933. The United States drinking age is now twenty-one but there is controversy of lowering the drinking age to eighteen. There are so many aspects in changing this law. Are they mature enough, are their brains fully developed, and what about accessibility? Those are just a few thoughts on this hot topic. According to the article, “Reagan Signs Bill to Push Legal Drinking Age to 21” by Storer Rowley, in 1984 President Reagan signed a bill that changed all states’ drinking age to twenty-one. Reagan found that in many states that had previously …show more content…
Think of it this way, freshmen and even some middle school kids already have accessibility to some alcoholic beverages. If an eighteen-year-old is still attending a high school, then alcohol will be even more accessible to sixteen or seventeen-year-olds than it already is. If sixteen or seventeen-year-olds can easily access alcohol, this would then increase the number of middle school and even elementary kids to access alcohol. Around these ages teens are just beginning to learn how to drive as well. When inexperienced drivers, and young illegal drinkers come together, deaths are going to occur. Drinking and driving rates increase, and it is usually not just one person killed in these car collisions. Drunk drivers can have others in the car with them, and then they hit another car. A family on their way home, or another teen who chose not to drink and drive, who chose to be safe, can lose their lives in a matter of seconds because of one poor decision. Parents are concerned. In her article, “A Lower Age Would Be Unsafe”(2008), Laura Dean-Mooney generalizes that adults are not comfortable with the drinking age lowering. Mooney develops her argument by using the following statistics from the Mothers Against Drunk Driving organization, in order to convince the reader to not want the age to change either. Her purpose is to show how many and why people are against this. In making this comment, Mooney’s …show more content…
Glaser says, “We don’t hand teenagers car keys without first educating them about how to drive. Why expect 21-year-olds to learn how to drink responsibly without learning from moderate models, at home and in alcohol education programs”(Glaser 1). Although this is a valid point, the key focus in this quote is how she used “teenagers” when talking about driving, and “21-year-olds” when talking about drinking (Glaser 1). The drinking age is twenty-one for a reason, and teenagers drive at sixteen for a reason. Drinking, and driving do not mix well, especially for teens. Twenty-one year olds have a more developed brain than an eighteen-year-old. The brain is not fully developed by the age of twenty-one, but it is more developed than an eighteen-year-old 's brain. Twenty-one year olds have more responsibility of being an adult for a few years or maturing, before being able to drink. Glaser calls them “21-year-olds” and not adults to make it seem like they are not an adult, and have not lived in the real world yet when actually most twenty-one-year-olds are in college or on their own (1). Glaser also disproves her own point of wanting to change the drinking age to eighteen. Glaser states, “A 2009 study published in The Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs found that between 1998 and 2005 the number of cases of alcohol poisoning deaths among 18-to
Honors English
Period Two
18 March 2016
Adolescent Drinking From the article, “Prohibition” on history.com, drinking alcohol was once prohibited in the United States during the 1920s up until 1933. The United States drinking age is now twenty-one but there is controversy of lowering the drinking age to eighteen. There are so many aspects in changing this law. Are they mature enough, are their brains fully developed, and what about accessibility? Those are just a few thoughts on this hot topic. According to the article, “Reagan Signs Bill to Push Legal Drinking Age to 21” by Storer Rowley, in 1984 President Reagan signed a bill that changed all states’ drinking age to twenty-one. Reagan found that in many states that had previously …show more content…
Think of it this way, freshmen and even some middle school kids already have accessibility to some alcoholic beverages. If an eighteen-year-old is still attending a high school, then alcohol will be even more accessible to sixteen or seventeen-year-olds than it already is. If sixteen or seventeen-year-olds can easily access alcohol, this would then increase the number of middle school and even elementary kids to access alcohol. Around these ages teens are just beginning to learn how to drive as well. When inexperienced drivers, and young illegal drinkers come together, deaths are going to occur. Drinking and driving rates increase, and it is usually not just one person killed in these car collisions. Drunk drivers can have others in the car with them, and then they hit another car. A family on their way home, or another teen who chose not to drink and drive, who chose to be safe, can lose their lives in a matter of seconds because of one poor decision. Parents are concerned. In her article, “A Lower Age Would Be Unsafe”(2008), Laura Dean-Mooney generalizes that adults are not comfortable with the drinking age lowering. Mooney develops her argument by using the following statistics from the Mothers Against Drunk Driving organization, in order to convince the reader to not want the age to change either. Her purpose is to show how many and why people are against this. In making this comment, Mooney’s …show more content…
Glaser says, “We don’t hand teenagers car keys without first educating them about how to drive. Why expect 21-year-olds to learn how to drink responsibly without learning from moderate models, at home and in alcohol education programs”(Glaser 1). Although this is a valid point, the key focus in this quote is how she used “teenagers” when talking about driving, and “21-year-olds” when talking about drinking (Glaser 1). The drinking age is twenty-one for a reason, and teenagers drive at sixteen for a reason. Drinking, and driving do not mix well, especially for teens. Twenty-one year olds have a more developed brain than an eighteen-year-old. The brain is not fully developed by the age of twenty-one, but it is more developed than an eighteen-year-old 's brain. Twenty-one year olds have more responsibility of being an adult for a few years or maturing, before being able to drink. Glaser calls them “21-year-olds” and not adults to make it seem like they are not an adult, and have not lived in the real world yet when actually most twenty-one-year-olds are in college or on their own (1). Glaser also disproves her own point of wanting to change the drinking age to eighteen. Glaser states, “A 2009 study published in The Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs found that between 1998 and 2005 the number of cases of alcohol poisoning deaths among 18-to