2008 Woodie Awards
18: Old Enough to Fight For Your Country, But Not To Drink?
Holly Turner
Issue date: 8/27/08 Section: OpEd
A girl walks into a bar and asks the bartender for a drink. The bartender asks the girl to provide I.D. and proudly the girl hands the bartender her driver's license and then looks shocked when the bartender refuses to serve her. "I am an adult " she exclaims. "Sorry," says the bartender, "you are under-aged."
The drinking age should be lowered to 18, although I fail to see how this topic is even up for debate. On their 18th birthdays American citizens become adults in the eyes of the law and are endowed with the right to vote, arguably the most important right in any democratic nation. If citizens are responsible enough to vote at age 18, then they are responsible enough to drink alcohol. Responsibility, maturity or any other qualification does not seem pertinent in my mind when it comes to the drinking age; what does seem pertinent is that 18-yr-olds are legal adults and should be treated as such. Considering the other possible responsibilities of 18-yr-olds -- voting, serving jury duty, serving in the armed forces, and being eligible to be tried as an adult in a court of law -- consumption of alcohol seems to be a lesser concern.
The concern with people under the age of 21 years drinking alcohol is that they are not finished developing and that alcohol can be detrimental for their growth. I suppose that is fair; however, cigarettes can be legally purchase by people under 21 and they not only negatively impact development, but have a high correlation with lung cancer, as well as many other medical concerns. Although the biggest difference between alcohol and cigarettes -- while arguably it may be bad judgment to smoke cigarettes -- cigarettes do not inhibit judgment as consumption of alcohol is known to do.
Once a person becomes a legal adult, I feel, that she or he should be entitled to be treated as a legal adult and age restrictions are absolutely ridiculous. I think, particularly in the case of alcohol, a certain level of maturity is needed, but I fail to understand how that correlates with age. Anyone who has sat through a basic health course understands the effects of alcohol. I think if alcohol was more widely accepted the "forbidden fruit" temptation that is attached to alcohol would be greatly reduced. In Europe and even in the United States many children are raised having wine with dinner and therefore learn to have a greater level of respect and caution with alcohol, as opposed to getting a thrill off of doing something wrong. Even so, alcohol abuse does not specifically pertain to people under 21 yrs old. Alcoholism does not have an age limit and there are plenty of alcohol abusers well above 21. Claiming that people under the age of 21-yrs-old do not have the maturity level to consume alcohol is ridiculous when many children learn how to respectfully drink alcohol at a young age, and many middle-aged people cannot handle alcohol consumption.
The drinking age should be lowered to 18, although I fail to see how this topic is even up for debate. On their 18th birthdays American citizens become adults in the eyes of the law and are endowed with the right to vote, arguably the most important right in any democratic nation. If citizens are responsible enough to vote at age 18, then they are responsible enough to drink alcohol. Responsibility, maturity or any other qualification does not seem pertinent in my mind when it comes to the drinking age; what does seem pertinent is that 18-yr-olds are legal adults and should be treated as such. Considering the other possible responsibilities of 18-yr-olds -- voting, serving jury duty, serving in the armed forces, and being eligible to be tried as an adult in a court of law -- consumption of alcohol seems to be a lesser concern.
The concern with people under the age of 21 years drinking alcohol is that they are not finished developing and that alcohol can be detrimental for their growth. I suppose that is fair; however, cigarettes can be legally purchase by people under 21 and they not only negatively impact development, but have a high correlation with lung cancer, as well as many other medical concerns. Although the biggest difference between alcohol and cigarettes -- while arguably it may be bad judgment to smoke cigarettes -- cigarettes do not inhibit judgment as consumption of alcohol is known to do.
Once a person becomes a legal adult, I feel, that she or he should be entitled to be treated as a legal adult and age restrictions are absolutely ridiculous. I think, particularly in the case of alcohol, a certain level of maturity is needed, but I fail to understand how that correlates with age. Anyone who has sat through a basic health course understands the effects of alcohol. I think if alcohol was more widely accepted the "forbidden fruit" temptation that is attached to alcohol would be greatly reduced. In Europe and even in the United States many children are raised having wine with dinner and therefore learn to have a greater level of respect and caution with alcohol, as opposed to getting a thrill off of doing something wrong. Even so, alcohol abuse does not specifically pertain to people under 21 yrs old. Alcoholism does not have an age limit and there are plenty of alcohol abusers well above 21. Claiming that people under the age of 21-yrs-old do not have the maturity level to consume alcohol is ridiculous when many children learn how to respectfully drink alcohol at a young age, and many middle-aged people cannot handle alcohol consumption.