"Alcohol and Those Under Twenty-One Don't Mix" Response, 2nd of December 2011

                In Joanne Glasser’s piece “Alcohol and Those Under Twenty-One Don’t Mix”, she discusses her belief that the drinking age should not be lowered and how she is working to keep alcohol from being a danger on Bradley University’s campus. I personally am not in opposition of lowering the drinking age. I do not see that there could be consequence from it, even though everyone thinks it will. Most underage drinkers drink alcohol in secretive situations, such as at parties or with friends with nobody around to stop them. I think they are most likely to drink too much in these situations because they would want to show off to their friends or just attempt to fit in with others who are heavy drinkers. If the drinking age was lowered, there would be less of this because there would be more casual drinking, and less of a need to satiate their thirst for alcohol In a situation that could possibly endanger them. Glasser quotes The American Medical Association who says, “There is no evidence that there were fewer campus alcohol problems when lower drinking ages were in effect" (Glasser).  I am not positive that a lowered drinking age will lower problems with alcohol, just as how before it was raised there was no decrease in campus drinking problems before it was lowered. The problems will not go away, because alcohol is usually easily obtainable for underage drinkers now and making the drinking age lower will probably only make it a little bit easier for these students to get alcohol.

Another point Glasser makes is that “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that in 1982, two years before Congress effectively raised the minimum national drinking age, 43 percent of underage drivers involvedin fatal crashes had been drinking. By 1998, just 21 percent had been" (Glasser). While this is a good point, there are other factors to consider. Nowadays there are more police officers looking out for drunk drivers, as well as campaigns advertised to college students made to educate students to watch out for their peers and to not let them drive drunk.

Glasser said in her article that she was doing many things to prevent student drinking. I think the things she has done are excellent. “Weekend, on-campus events dubbed “Late Night BU” provide out students with alcohol-free ways to have fun” (Glasser).  This is something that is being done on my own college campus as well and I think it is wonderful to have many things for the students to do instead of going to parties or staying in their dorms drinking. Especially the weekends, that is probably the most crucial time to keep a student away from alcohol, when they have no classes, and their homework may already be finished, they are free to choose and hopefully they make the right choice.

“Our alcohol education program has been expanded and integrated into first-year classes and residence hall programs” (Glasser). I like this because it can educate students that may not know how dangerous alcohol can be and perhaps change their mind on how much they drink. Especially first-years, who come fresh from home and high school and now are free to do what they want may make the wrong choice, and starting off college with that choice, I do not know how that could end well.

Glasser, Joanne. “Alcohol and Those Under Twenty-One Don’t Mix”. ChicagoTribune.com.

Chicago Tribune, 29 Aug. 2008.