Essay On Lowering The Drinking Age
Why the legal drinking age in the United States should be lowered to eighteen.
Whether the minimum age of alcohol consummation should be lowered from twenty-one to eighteen or not, is the object of intense discussion in the United States. Many opponents think lowering the drinking age will have negative effects, whereas proponents believe the present minimum age encourages teenagers to drink in secrecy. This secret behavior may lead to unsafe situations. Therefore the legal drinking age in the United States should be lowered to eighteen years or even younger, since most teenagers are drinking anyway, so lowering the legal age would allow them to consume alcohol in a supervised environment. Also, minors that do decide to drink illegally are …show more content…
If the legal drinking age would be lowered, they can have their first beer or glass of wine in presence of their parents, preparing them for their more independent lives when they go to college. “Part of the process of learning to drink is to discover the effects of drinking certain amounts in specific situations” (Houghton & Roche, 2001, p. 135). Without any parental or adult supervision, teenagers will be more likely to drink alcohol as if it is water, not being aware of its negative effects. They might end up binge drinking, because they have never learnt to drink in moderation. The experience of their first alcoholic drinks should be one where they can overtly challenge their boundaries without being exposed to alcohol’s detrimental effects on health and …show more content…
In this context, alcohol becomes more appealing to them. According to Wilkinson, Professor Emeritus of Social Epidemiology (https://en.wikipedia.org), the higher the legal drinking age, the more teenagers are encouraged to drink in secrecy (1970). This theory is called the “forbidden fruit hypothesis”. Because alcohol is prohibited to minors, they like to show off consuming alcohol in front of their peers and prove that they do not take this prohibition into
Whether the minimum age of alcohol consummation should be lowered from twenty-one to eighteen or not, is the object of intense discussion in the United States. Many opponents think lowering the drinking age will have negative effects, whereas proponents believe the present minimum age encourages teenagers to drink in secrecy. This secret behavior may lead to unsafe situations. Therefore the legal drinking age in the United States should be lowered to eighteen years or even younger, since most teenagers are drinking anyway, so lowering the legal age would allow them to consume alcohol in a supervised environment. Also, minors that do decide to drink illegally are …show more content…
If the legal drinking age would be lowered, they can have their first beer or glass of wine in presence of their parents, preparing them for their more independent lives when they go to college. “Part of the process of learning to drink is to discover the effects of drinking certain amounts in specific situations” (Houghton & Roche, 2001, p. 135). Without any parental or adult supervision, teenagers will be more likely to drink alcohol as if it is water, not being aware of its negative effects. They might end up binge drinking, because they have never learnt to drink in moderation. The experience of their first alcoholic drinks should be one where they can overtly challenge their boundaries without being exposed to alcohol’s detrimental effects on health and …show more content…
In this context, alcohol becomes more appealing to them. According to Wilkinson, Professor Emeritus of Social Epidemiology (https://en.wikipedia.org), the higher the legal drinking age, the more teenagers are encouraged to drink in secrecy (1970). This theory is called the “forbidden fruit hypothesis”. Because alcohol is prohibited to minors, they like to show off consuming alcohol in front of their peers and prove that they do not take this prohibition into