Drinking

Tim Shores
Mrs. Johnson
ENG 1010T 11/26/2012 WA 4 Rebuttal
Is twenty one beneficial? Across America the age limit for drinking is 21. The ever growing underage drinking is becoming more and more popular. Binge drinking if not controlled can also cause alcohol addiction. From a religious stand point, drinking is wrong and should not be done. Radley Balko believes the drinking age should be lowered and that there are benefits to it (Kirszner and Mandell 371). There are no benefits to lowering the drinking age despite what Balko may think. In this essay it will be discussed that drinking does not help college students, it increases fatalities in automobile accidents, and parents should be punished for giving alcohol to minors.
Balko believe that college students will benefit from an age decrease in alcohol laws, but studies have shown that to be different. According to Regional Prevention Center, the top 5 reasons we should keep the drinking age at 21 are: “saves lives, the brain does not fully develop until at least 21, the longer we delay alcohol use; the better the chance that a person will never have a problem with alcohol, the policy does work; preventing ‘low hanging fruit’, and the department of defense regulations allow members of the active military who are under 21 to consume alcohol in controlled situations” (Burger). Some reasons why college students may choose to drink are: 1) Peer pressure. We want to fit in so we look cool or be accepted. 2) Initiation. College fraternities and sororities have certain ways for a person to join their ‘club’. And 3) stress. Students may feel over whelmed with school work so they look to alcohol as a stress reliever. “Additionally, alcohol has been linked to as many as 2/3rd of college suicides and 95% of student related crimes on campus. Binge drinking is the leading preventable cause of premature death due to its links to automobile accidents. College binge drinking has also led to homicide, sexual abuse, injury, and criminal behavior in many cases” (Mogul). College students do not go to college to learn how to drink alcohol; they go to learn how to further their lives so that they can be an asset to their community. In conclusion, drinking is not beneficial to college students.
In Balko’s essay he claims that, lowering the drinking age will lower automobile fatalities on the road. Although he claims this to be true the facts have shown to prove this to be wrong. “According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, increasing the minimum drinking age to 21 is credited with having saved 18,220 lives on the nation’s highways between 1975 and 1998. Other studies have found that it is responsible for a 19% net decrease in fatal crashes involving young drivers, and is currently responsible for saving approximately 1,000 young lives each year.”(Edgar) When people drink alcohol they become different because alcohol affects a person’s driving skills such as vision, reaction time, judgment, and the ability to divide attention. Therefore alcohol has a big part in car accidents. “Car crashes are the leading cause of death among people ages 15 to 20. About 1,900 people under 21 die every year from car crashes involving underage drinking.”(Edgar) “Despite being under the legal drinking age, American teens from the ages of 16-20 were more likely to be killed while driving under the influence than adults ages 55-64. Teens accounted for 17% of all drivers who were involved in drunk driving crashes, while those from 55-64 accounted for 12%.”(Edgar). The brain is fully developed on average in ones 20’s which is why teens should not be drinking. In society drinking is common among kids and Balko believe this to be because of rebellion among them. Kids who are underage and choose to drink do it because of status. They want to be ‘cool’ and to fit in so they can feel accepted. Teens also tend to drink because it is a stress reliever and causes pain to ease temporarily. A big influence though is all the beer commercials broadcasted on television and how good the alcohol is, causing teens to want to try it. Even though the commercials say “please drink responsibly”, teens still want to try it and will attempt anything to get it even though they know that they are under age and that it is illegal for them to have it. Parents who either give their kids alcohol or ignore the fact that their child is drinking alcohol illegally should be punished for breaking the law and for giving alcohol to a minor. Jail time should be strictly enforced to those parents that choose to go against the law by providing or ignoring the fact that their child is illegally drinking because ultimately that is bad parenting on their part. As seen in this essay, Balko’s ideas are not the course to take. Lowering the drinking age will only cause problems as seen in the studies. So there are no benefits to lowering the drinking age despite what Balko may think. From this essay, it is concluded that drinking does not help college students, lowers fatalities in automobile accidents and that parents need to be punished for giving alcohol to minors.