Do you think the drinking age should be 18 again?

I think you should learn how to drink before you learn how to drive....say lower the drinking age to 17 and the driving age to 18 or 19. For one, people would understand how alcohol impairs judgment and lowers reflexes before ever trying to get behind the wheel of a vehicle, and more importantly, they will be going to bars either with someone older who can drive (and theoretically more responsible), walking to the bar, or drinking at a party or at home and STAYING the night there.

this also gives the parents more control, because they can limit how much their teenagers drink while they still live at home, whereas at 21, they have moved out and have no one to look over their shoulder and make sure they aren't doing something stupid

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Originally Posted by Smith285

I think you should learn how to drink before you learn how to drive....say lower the drinking age to 17 and the driving age to 18 or 19. For one, people would understand how alcohol impairs judgment and lowers reflexes before ever trying to get behind the wheel of a vehicle, and more importantly, they will be going to bars either with someone older who can drive (and theoretically more responsible), walking to the bar, or drinking at a party or at home and STAYING the night there.

this also gives the parents more control, because they can limit how much their teenagers drink while they still live at home, whereas at 21, they have moved out and have no one to look over their shoulder and make sure they aren't doing something stupid

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You know...I always thought it was silly that they wanted to lower the drinking age back to 18 WHILE raising the driving age till 17. (I was rear-ended while at a dead stop twice last year...both by 16-17 y/o's) Great...theyll suck at driving..and be drunk doing it...

But you just brought up a point I never really thought of. Kind of scraps the whole "how to time the driving before drinking" scenario, and adopts a more rational one instead. Best idea I have heard yet!! Why the heck didnt I think of that?!

:8:

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Originally Posted by Smith285

I think you should learn how to drink before you learn how to drive....say lower the drinking age to 17 and the driving age to 18 or 19. For one, people would understand how alcohol impairs judgment and lowers reflexes before ever trying to get behind the wheel of a vehicle, and more importantly, they will be going to bars either with someone older who can drive (and theoretically more responsible), walking to the bar, or drinking at a party or at home and STAYING the night there.

this also gives the parents more control, because they can limit how much their teenagers drink while they still live at home, whereas at 21, they have moved out and have no one to look over their shoulder and make sure they aren't doing something stupid

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There are a lot of problems with this.
First off, students can leave home at 17. Without a car?
Most kids get a job at 15 or 16. In a parents position, I wouldn't want to drive them there everyday.
Also, bus systems are not meant to always hold entire classes of juniors and seniors, because they rely on the fact that most of them will drive to school. Parking costs money, so it would be a financial loss to most schools to increase bus amounts with no parking for students.

It's very difficult to be in high school without driving to school. We often have to stay after school for certain projects we can not do at home, and most parents usually work until 5-6ish.

I think it should be 18, and if it changed, change me back to 18 while at it.

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

Is drinking and driving the SOLE reason you believe the drinking age should be 21? Nothing else comes to mind? Is drinking to blame for it all??

I too was brought up strict, I didn't drink until I moved out... I drank, then when I turned 21, I drank some more in public. In all, I drank heavily after turning 21 for only a few months... Now I haven't really had a drink since.

If raising a child in a super protective environment has bad results when they get out on their own and party hard, then how is it any different if we "protect" them from alcohol and then let them loose? I don't see the difference, and I strongly believe that making alcohol not a BIG deal, we'd see less stupid mistakes made when kids are either out of the parents house or turn 18.

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I didnt get past this post, but I wanted to make sure to respond to it.

How I was brought up around alcohol varied a lot. My parents are divorced and I lived with my mom. My mom was a very open, trusting parent, and pretty much gave me free roam to do whatever I wanted, and I didnt take advantage of that and I was overall a good kid. It was a good system for us because I was responsible enough not to get myself into shtuff that could follow me later. With that said, the other side of the story was my dad. My dad has always been around, and I usually saw him at least once a month until I was an upperclassmen in high school and both of our busy schedules just didnt allow it. Anyway, he is very religious and conservative, and has always tried, is trying and probably always will try to instill conservative morals in me. I could not be much more liberal without being a communist, fyi. It goes without saying, that he is very opposed to underage anything, or anything, even if it is legal, that is "bad".

Now, with all of that said, I drink pretty infrequently, and even when I do, it is usually only a drink or two.

The fact is, Europe has no alcohol problems because they raise their kids without the stress and taboo of dealing with alcohol, so their kids dont go through the "I'm going to drink b/c I am a rebel!" stage, since it is legal and everyone else is doing it.

The other fact is, America isnt and never will be like Europe. Prohibition screwed it up for us for good. The best we can do now is get a majority of the people to feel that there is an issue with the drinking age, and willing to address the issues of lowering it until society becomes more laid back about the issue in general. Once the issue can become passive porch talk and not heated political debate, we have made headway.

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Originally Posted by starmom

Since this country is an alleged Republic, I say leave it up to each state's voting populace to determine the laws for their state, including the drinking age.

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I don't agree with this, but if it fixes the problem for more people, more power to it. I am a federalist at heart and believe that we need a stronger national goverment, with less power to state and local gov's.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

You won't get it from me. I may be an old broad but I still am amazed at how much younger 18 is now then it was when I hit that age. :rolleyes:

Rich, those stats are backed up for me anyways by my own experience years ago working in a small town police department. In that blue collar community, where most everyone worked in a factory, the VAST majority of our drunk drivers were grown men. Men that should have known better but just had to get that car home from the bar. Sadly we had a lot of drunk drivers back then and most were not teens/young adults. Our young poeple even back then were far better educated about drinking and driving and also grew up under a system that more heavily penalized that activity.

Look it's simple for me. You are a legal adult at age 18 for a lot of things. You can marry, fight and die for your country, enter and be held liable to a legal contract, get a credit card, sign a lease, etc. You can live as any adult does except for the ability to have a beer. I think in making this one thing illegal it just makes it all that much more interesting. For me, either you are an adult or you aren't and this ridiculous thing of making the line here for one thing but here for another just is silly.

As far as parental involvement, if you haven't taught your kid by age 18 that certain activities are just plain stupid (drinking and driving in this case) - well I don't think they are going to get it by age 21. For me and mine, age 18 means you're an adult in this house. If you want to act like a stupid kid or act one moment like a child, then the other like a grown-up - too bad for you, you'll still be expected to face any consequence like the adult you are. I love my kids but I don't intend to raise a group of living at home with mom, acting like a kid when I darn well know I delivered your butt 25 years ago pseudo-adults. I've watched some of my friends do that and sorry but I think that disrespects the whole child/parent relationship and is just plain silly.

The line should be clear....now you are a child...now you are an adult with all the freedoms and responsibilities that entails. Your job as a parent is to teach them and get them ready for that line to be crossed, celebrate that they've reached that age and then let them live it, good or bad.

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I was gonna say this too....darn.

But to elaborate...I believe that the majority of the people that are mature enough to make the right choices involving alcohol at age 21 were mature enough at 18 as well, and that the majority of the people that were not mature enough to make the right decisions at 18 will probably not be mature enough at 21, if at all.

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Originally Posted by python.princess

I have all kinds of opinions (for and against) on this subject and couldn't figure out a way to type them all out in any graceful way- just kept jumping around. That said, I'll boil it down to one sentence.

Being a legal adult DOES NOT automatically make you responsible and mature enough to make responsible decisions- especially where alcohol is involved.

EDIT: I'd also like to add that 4 members of my senior class (all 18yo) died before graduation- 3 of them from alcohol related incidents.

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Well said.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

You pretty much hit that nail right on the head there, Ben. Our society of give them a sticker for everything, they can't be allowed to know failure, my child is perfect and can do no wrong is paying a high price in the overly slow maturity level of some of our young people. While there are some shining examples of young adulthood, as there have always been, there are a distressingly high number of adults well into their 20's that quite honestly act and live like they are 14...and then brag about it!

I assume it shows my age but in my high school days we partied, we did stuff we likely should not have done but everyone of us was dying to graduate, become an adult, get a job and our own place (or go off to college). We wanted to be independent of our parents, we ached to be adults. Today I see more and more of my friends supporting their adult children while they "find themselves".

Find themselves? LMAO Any of mine can't "find themselves" will get a word from me about finding a job, finding an apartment and finding some moving boxes. I love my children ever last one of them but I'll have failed miserably as a parent if I fail to raise them into adults that are quite happily independent of mommy's apron strings.



Well sorry to say but that shows that even at age 21 you are still thinking like a rather immature 14 year old dear (my apologies to most 14 year olds lol). I voted yes and I'm a parent of four so your assumptions are like most assumptions - well off base.

It's something to note, however, that my four know better than to use a keyboard to insult others or brag about illegally providing their younger siblings with alcohol.

Do keep partying on. I bet it's just doing you the world of good and setting a fine *cough* example for those younger sibs of yours. :rolleyes:

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I agree that society in general is too lenient on "us", since I fall in the category. I will admit that my parents are still more or less supporting me while I find myself...but at the same time, I do want to be independent. I am going to school full time and working part time, so I dont see myself as the lazy moocher that you refer to.

Also worth noting, coming from a non-drinking student at Michigan State Univeristy (google CedarFest riot if you don't know about MSU's history of drinking problems), the student government is asking the MSU State Police department to enact a no-risk policy for emergencies involving alcohol. For instance....you and some friends are at a party and your drunk friend does something stupid and breaks his arm...no one will take him to the ER because they know they will get busted and get an MIP. This law would protect the people bringing the patient in for treatment. This would also apply to other emergency situations, the broken arm is just an example. Also, I do not know whether or not this law will protect the victim/patient/whatever you wanna call it as well.

There is a lot of rhetoric on this site, and I am not agreeing or disagreeing with their outcome. But here are a few stats for you guys so we can all form an educated opinion.

http://www.cspinet.org/booze/mlpafact.htm

I will try to find a link for a pro 18 drinking age site.

I do not know how you all come to the conclusion that we do not have problems with kids and alcohol over here, because there are HUGE problems.

http://i469.photobucket.com/albums/r...nd_Alkohol.png

This chart shows the amount of 15 year olds who drink alcohol on a weekly basis.
In germany kids are allowed to buy beer and wine from age 16, hard stuff from age 18. Driving drunk is a big problem here, but since you have to be 18 at last to drive, it is a little bit different then in the states. But especially in the rural areas, where people have to drive to the party locations there are people dying every weekend.
Myself, living in a big city, do not need to own a car (I used to have one when I was younger, but I sold it, because of a couple of reasons:
a) excellent public transportation, b) I use my bicycle most of the time and c) petrol prices got too expensive (not 8 $ per liter like someone said, but still expensive)) so I am not at risk to drive drunk now, but I have to admit I did it, when I was at age 18-19.
But the biggest problem connected to teenage alcohol consumption is violence, a lot of trouble is caused by drunken youngsters losing control and it ends up messy way to often. England has a huge problem with it ( a lot of teenagers were knife stabbed recently ) and in germany it is also turning to
the worse.
Could write more, but I am at work now and people wanna bet...:taz:

Please forgive me, but my German is a bit rusty. What does Madchen mean?