Megan Johnson
Composition 2
Brian Lewis
Group Blog Assignment
The answer is yes, there is quite a large difference between the 18 year old brain and the 21 year old brain. Alcohol affects your brain no matter how old you are, but the amount that it affects you does depend on how old you are. When you are 18 years old your brain is still in the development stage, consuming alcohol during this time can be very damaging and irreversible. Some of the areas that are severely impaired are ones learning ability and memory, which are both crucial to the adolescent who is in school. (AMA) And ones inability to perform well in school can often lead to social problems and depression, which in turn can ultimately lead to more and more drinking.
Moving in a different direction now, one of the biggest, if not the biggest arguments many people have about the drinking age not being 18 is: If you can join the armed forces and fight and die for your country at 18, why cant you legally purchase and consume alcohol? I don’t feel that there is a right or wrong answer to this question. Yes, I agree that joining the armed forces is a very big decision that takes a lot of consideration. There is no denying that. However, I think that many people fail to realize that if these same men and women who are fighting for our country at 18 years old were allowed to drink alcohol, who’s to say that they don’t make this very weighty decision of joining the Army, Navy, ect. under the influence of said alcohol? Then we could have people fighting for this country who did not truly consider the consequences of what they are doing, who may not have even wanted to join. I’m not saying that if you are 18 years old and allowed to drink you are going to get wasted and join the military, this of course could happen at any age, but is it really worth taking the chance of having someone protecting this country who doesn’t really want to be?
And of course there is the argument: Well you’re already 21 so what do you care about the legal drinking age? This question would be answered differently by everyone. I personally would respond by saying that I am 23 years old and have been able to drink legally for two years now so no, the legal drinking age no longer affects me. However, I can honestly say that even when I was 18 I have always felt that 21 was an appropriate age to start purchasing and consuming alcohol.
Undoubtedly those who feel that the drinking age being set at 21 has lead to more binge drinking and to minors drinking in secret. In an interview last year for 60 Minuets, the former president of Middlebury College in Vermont, John McCardell, is quoted as saying of the current law prohibiting those under the age of 21 to drink: “This law has been an abysmal failure. It hasn’t reduced or eliminated drinking. It has simply driven it underground, behind closed doors…” He says that this law has “created a dangerous culture of irresponsible and reckless behavior” He also argues that the drinking age being 21 brings about a “prohibition” type issue, “kids find ways to get around the 21 year old limit” claiming that “it’s so widespread, it’s the norm”. McCardell feels that lowering the age “will make kids safer”. (Streeter) Although he brings up a seemingly excellent argument as to why the drinking age limit should be lowered, McCardell fails to acknowledge these “kids” lack of personal responsibility. If someone is expected to be responsible enough to vote and make the decision to join the military at 18, why can’t these same responsibilities to expected when it comes to drinking? For those who are in favor of lowering the drinking age, do you really feel that given the legal right to consume alcohol at 18 years old, that those same people who are doing so illegally would do so any safer?
Works Cited
American Medical Association (AMA) “Brain Damage Risks.” ama-assn.org
American Medical Association, 2010. Web. 31 Jan. 2010
Streeter, Ruth. “The Debate On Lowering The Drinking Age.” cbsnews.com.
Central Broadcasting System, 22 Feb. 2009. Web. 6 Feb. 2010
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So I guess my next question is should we as a people wait until our brains are fully developed so that we won’t cause health problems? Why isn’t anyone making a big fuss about this? Because if it really was about keeping us safe and healthy then, why hasn’t the government made a law that we can’t participate in drinking and other harmful activities until we are fully developed? The age according to multiple specialists at The Mentor Foundation and the psychological professor at Marist College (to say a few), we are done growing and our brains have fully developed at the age 25. Since this information has been known by multiple doctors, nurses, and officials, I think we need to ask ourselves why hasn’t the law changed. Let me suggest an answer to that question, maybe the government doesn’t want for us to wait for our brains to be fully developed to fight in a war; they need more troops to fight meaningless wars. But we don’t hear anything about that age law. If our brains are not fully developed until the age 25 that should be a universal principle for all those rights that come with age 18. If we can’t make the decision to have a drink what makes them believe that we can make the decision for what type of president we want, with the right that we obtain at the age of 18, or to get married at age 18 also. I don’t know, some of these laws seem a bit hypocritical to me. It should be all or none, and no silly justifications for why some and not the other because some decisions 18 year olds are allowed to make hold a greater caliber of responsibility than the decision to have a drink.
ReplyDeleteWork Cited
Rollins, Kristen. “BRAIN NOT FULLY DEVELOPED UNTIL AGE 25.”
www.academic.marist.edu. Web 08 February 2010.
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. “ALCOHOL ACROSS THE
LIFESPAN.” National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism