Laura Windes
Features Editor
Students are inundated with messages about drinking. The Power of Choice survey gives us statistics about alcohol consumption, we hear messages from authority figures about resisting, and peers try to convince each other that drinking is all right.
I often hear the argument that we might as well lower the drinking age because so many people disregard it anyway. This will convince lawmakers the day that they decide to eliminate all speed limits just because some people always drive above them.
Even though some people insist that they can drive safely at speeds much higher than the limit, which they may be able to, that does not mean everyone can.
If there were no more speed limits, those who couldn’t drive safely would put themselves and others in danger by driving as fast as they wanted, though they often would never drive that fast if there had been a speed limit in place.
The same applies to drinking. Some people might be able to safely drink underage, but there are still those who would not be able to, and if the law granted them free reign, they would be more likely to hurt themselves or others.
High school students have not yet reached their full level of maturity. I am certain I haven’t, and despite how mature others may claim to be, there is still more learning to be done. If you don’t need to mature anymore, I’m quite impressed and would like to know your secrets.
Because we are not completely mature, we have many mistakes left to make. It would be best if we made these mistakes while free from the influence of alcohol, as small mistakes can grow astronomically when beer is added into the mix.
Also, when these mistakes have to do with consuming too much alcohol, the results can be fatal.
When the law restricts alcohol to individuals above the age of 21, it gives people time to mature, so that hopefully many of these mistakes can be avoided or at least not made worse by alcohol. Yes, there still will be the people who drink illegally, but those who would only drink because it was legal would be spared much trouble.
And for the argument that says that instead of spending money enforcing the drinking age, we should lower it and spend the money educating about the proper use of alcohol, I ask if that will really work.
Will forcing students to sit through another seemingly endless lecture about how not to get one’s self killed while drinking really help? Or will it just give students an extra nap or a possible target of ridicule?
Other types of education such as in-class discussions would take away more time from an already cramped schedule, and might prove just as ineffective.
And I hope I’m not saying anything foreign when I state that I value my safety. The facts paint a clear picture that the roads become safer with a higher drinking age. When states have tried to lower the drinking age, more accidents have occurred, accompanied by more deaths.
Though there are many who argue it would be better all around for the drinking age to be lowered, I remain unconvinced.
There are many areas where lowering the drinking age seems decidedly negative and these areas outweigh any possible benefit.
