Controversial Issue: Drinking Age According to a recent poll, over 135 U.S. colleges have signed the petition to lower the drinking age to eighteen. It is common fact that majority of college students consume alcohol on a weekly bases. Although many believe that anyone under the age of 21 is prohibited from consuming alcohol in the United States, underage drinking is allowed in eleven states for educational purposes, twenty-nine if done on private property with parental consent, in sixteen for medical purposes, and twenty-six states for religious purposes. The controversy of lowering the drinking age has been and still is a major debate within our political system. The drinking age should in fact be lowered for several reasons, which are but
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This reasoning still stands valid because in fact, it can be debated that the reason many teenagers drink illegally is because of the concept of rebellion. By lowering the drinking age, less and less young adults will have the urge to drink. In a News Weekly article, Jeffrey A. Tucker made a claim that “The drinking-age law would surely be a winner in a competition for the least obeyed law. The notion that this law is accomplishing anything to actually stop or even curb teen drinking is preposterous. Instead, we see all the unintended effects of Prohibition: over-indulgence, anti-social behavior, disrespect for the law, secrecy and sneaking and a massive diversion of human energy.” It is very common amount college students to consume alcohol for social gatherings even if that student is under the age of twenty-one. Fewer crimes would be committed as well because there would be no need to obtain the alcohol illegally. It is becoming more common to purchase “fake ideas”, so essentially by lowering the drinking age, identity fraud would be lowered as …show more content…
In the case of lowering the drinking age, the argument that can be made is that a person is too young to drink at the age of eighteen and is not mature enough. Although understandable, this argument appears invalid because of reasons previously mentioned. A person is old enough to live on his or her own, or even get married, than he or she is mature enough to handle the consumption of alcohol. Another argument could be that alcohol leads to violence, therefore should not be consumed by young adults. This too is false due to the fact that violence with the consumption of alcohol is most commonly seen between middle-aged men rather than young adults. Although opinions can be created on why the drinking age should remain twenty-one, the argument clearly isn’t strong enough not to change it to eighteen years
This reasoning still stands valid because in fact, it can be debated that the reason many teenagers drink illegally is because of the concept of rebellion. By lowering the drinking age, less and less young adults will have the urge to drink. In a News Weekly article, Jeffrey A. Tucker made a claim that “The drinking-age law would surely be a winner in a competition for the least obeyed law. The notion that this law is accomplishing anything to actually stop or even curb teen drinking is preposterous. Instead, we see all the unintended effects of Prohibition: over-indulgence, anti-social behavior, disrespect for the law, secrecy and sneaking and a massive diversion of human energy.” It is very common amount college students to consume alcohol for social gatherings even if that student is under the age of twenty-one. Fewer crimes would be committed as well because there would be no need to obtain the alcohol illegally. It is becoming more common to purchase “fake ideas”, so essentially by lowering the drinking age, identity fraud would be lowered as …show more content…
In the case of lowering the drinking age, the argument that can be made is that a person is too young to drink at the age of eighteen and is not mature enough. Although understandable, this argument appears invalid because of reasons previously mentioned. A person is old enough to live on his or her own, or even get married, than he or she is mature enough to handle the consumption of alcohol. Another argument could be that alcohol leads to violence, therefore should not be consumed by young adults. This too is false due to the fact that violence with the consumption of alcohol is most commonly seen between middle-aged men rather than young adults. Although opinions can be created on why the drinking age should remain twenty-one, the argument clearly isn’t strong enough not to change it to eighteen years