Drinking Age Controversy

That was a short clip from 60 Minutes focusing on several university heads who are in favor of lowering the drinking age to 18.

Initially, I'm against this quite adamantly. One teacher at LHS recalls what it was like to be a teacher when the drinking age was 18 and students would quite literally walk down the street from the school to a bar and get hammered . . . because they could.

So much for teaching responsible drinking, which is what the university heads are calling for by lowering the drinking age. They claim that the current drinking age drives teen drinking underground. They reason that because of this, young drinkers binge drink themselves blind or worse - to death - because they have never had responsible drinking modeled for them.

Now this is a topic that comes up so often in persuasive papers that I have pretty much banned it from consideration.

If I hear that dumb ass, red neck, illogical slogan, if you can fight and die for your country, you should be able to have a drink in a bar, I'll go insane.

Yet, I think the university leaders make some valid points.

Recently, one young person from my home town nearly died because of alcohol poisoning at WeFest and another young person there did, in fact, die. Last spring a former student of mine - with another kid from my home town - were drinking and mixing drugs and nearly died.

A student who was a member of the first class I ever taught died less than one year after graduation because of drinking and driving. This happened again in my hometown to another kid who died a few days before graduation.

I'm not condemning them, for I could easily have been included in those examples growing up. It's part of that indestructible belief you have as a young adult as well as a sense of rebellion with a little edge of doing something illegal thrown that is so enticing and dangerous.

Maybe, just maybe, if adults modeled responsible drinking, say a beer or two on the weekends or while watching the game on TV or at family gatherings, teens would see how to drink. That it doesn't need to necessarily involve keg stands or beer bongs or "power hours" when you turn 21.

In the full clip, one father - whose son was a freshman at college and who was trying to make it into a fraternity - lost his son. Apparently, part of the hazing involved drinking a certain amount of alcohol in a specific amount of time.

The boy lost consciousness and the frat members left him on a bench . . . to die.

This is one of hundreds of examples that occur at universities every year. One reason the university leaders wish to try and find a logical solution to this problem.

I like what my sister and her husband do with their kids.

Beer and wine coolers are available in small amounts at most family gatherings and holidays. You see it and get used to it. By doing this drinking is not seen as something special or extraordinary. But as something normal. Remember, young adults rarely want to push the limits of normalcy, right?

When my parents and I would visit them, Barb or Arnie would ask me if I wanted a beer. Of course, I did! What 13 year old wouldn't, right? That was the cool thing to do. My dad would chuckle (and remember my dad (and mom) never had alcohol in the house and they rarely drank and I most certainly never saw them intoxicated. Maybe Dad would have a bit of vodka or schnapps for a hot drink if he got a cold. In fact, I recall watching the old CBS show Bring 'em Back Alive (a spin off of Indiana Jones) and in the opening scene the protagonist was shown at the bar taking a shot. I'd model this by pouring a little iced tea into the smallest glass I could find and tossing it back. Well, one day Dad asked if I wanted to try real alcohol - like the guy in the film. Of course I did! So he poured me a bit of a shot and I waited for the show to come on and then the protagonist and I tossed our shots back together. I joked and coughed and my eyes watered. A lesson was learned).

I would end up trying to choke down the repulsive drink (trying to act like it really tasted great) in the presence of adults who were enjoying their drinks. No one got plowed. No one wrapped their car around a tree. No one puked in the bathroom.

This makes a lot of sense as to how to properly model drinking for young people. It's also why their kids are responsible drinkers. I think they have seen how normal people drink reasonable. That way even if they attend a party where the keg stands and beer bongs are going on, they, at least, have that prior knowledge to make a decision. They are not like so many young people who have never really seen reasonable drinking and go hog wild at such parties . . . and often die because of it.