 |
| Some reasons: |
| 1) |
INCONSISTENT/UNFAIR/ARBITRARY DEFINITIONS OF
“RESPONSIBLE ADULT”!
18-year-olds can vote and
serve on juries. 18-year-olds can get married and have
children. 18-year-olds can go to war and die for their
country. Yet 18-year-olds can not legally enjoy a beer or a
glass of wine?!?
|
| 2) |
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES FOR EDUCATION – PART
1
Senior year of High School (particularly prom
season) is a perfect time to educate students about
responsible drinking and the dangers of irresponsible drinking
(drunk-driving, binge-drinking / alcohol poisoning, date-rape,
etc.), yet parents and teachers are unable to do so because
they would be acknowledging and condoning underage drinking,
which is against the law. |
| 3) |
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES FOR EDUCATION – PART 2
Freshman year of college (particularly College
Orientation week) is a perfect time to educate students about
responsible drinking and the dangers of irresponsible drinking
(drunk-driving, binge-drinking / alcohol poisoning, date-rape,
etc.), yet college Faculty, Staff, and Campus Administrators
are unable to do so because they would be acknowledging and
condoning underage drinking, which is against the law. |
| 4) |
FACT: UNDERAGE DRINKING HAPPENS – REGARDLESS OF
THE LAW.
A recent study reported that more than
90% of Americans are drinking by age 20.
However, BECAUSE
it is illegal, underage drinking happens secretly,
unsupervised, in basements, in dorm rooms, etc. This is much
more dangerous than it would be in more public, controlled
environments.
|
| 5) |
LISTEN TO THOSE CLOSEST TO THE ISSUE!
Countless High School and College faculty, staff, and
administrators are surprisingly among those most supportive of
a movement to lower the legal drinking age to 18. In 2004, the
president of Vermont's Middlebury College, John McCardell, Jr.
wrote in The New York Times that "the 21-year-old drinking age
is bad social policy and terrible law" that has actually made
the college drinking problem far
worse. |
|
| Some reasons: |
| 1) |
Young people are not yet intelligent enough or responsible
enough to handle alcohol until they’re 21. |
| 2) |
Drinking is a privilege that must be earned and you have
not earned it until you are 21. |
| 3) |
The law is working just fine as it is and there is no
reason to change it |
| 4) |
There is nothing wrong with all Americans waiting until
their 21st birthday to consume their first drink. |
| 5) |
That’s just the way it should
be. |
|
|
|
