HERALD EDITORIAL: Students should be taught awareness, not choices

College students drink. At least that’s what the media tells us.

College and alcohol use are virtually indistinguishable from one another in music, movies, and television. If everything you knew about college was learned from pop culture you would likely expect to be handed a beer and a group of unlikely, yet steadfast friends who will see you through the toughest of times the moment you step foot on any college campus in the United States.

The truth is, for most people, college is not the bastion of drunken revelry some might have you believe.

About 68 percent of college students drink at least occasionally though only 40 percent engage in binge drinking, defined as consuming five drinks or more in a single sitting, according to a 2005 study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.

While those numbers are no doubt very high, they actually place college students within the average range of their age group according to the U.S Department of Health & Human Services. It would seem that, despite common perception and understanding, there is nothing special about college that brings young people to alcohol. They are drinking both in and out of school at similar rates.

The controversy has been, and still remains centered around the legal drinking age. Some, including the Amethyst Initiative, a group comprised of about 100 college presidents, argue for lowering the drinking age to 18 claiming that college students who want to drink will do so anyway, and that doing so illegally raises the risk of harm.

On the other side of the debate, groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving indicate reduced instances of drunk driving as an argument for the effectiveness of the current drinking age.

While both of these arguments undoubtedly have their merits, it is interesting to note that only about 15 percent of young adults who are going to drink actually wait until they are 21, and college students today who drink are less likely to drive intoxicated than they were in the early 80s when the drinking age was raised.

What is the real focus of this debate? Everyone agrees on the matter at hand. Young people, including many college students, are not always making the best decisions regarding alcohol use. Abuse is a major concern as an estimated 500,000 full-time students are injured in incidents related to drinking every year with about 1,700 accidents actually resulting in deaths. Between 1999 through 2005, 157 college-age people drank themselves to death. However, it seems that these issues are acknowledged as readily as they are dismissed amongst debated over matters, like the drinking age and programs like DARE designed primarily to talk kids out of drinking or using drugs at all.

It seems no one is prepared to address or even acknowledge the simple reality of the situation: College age people have a choice to make for themselves.

The fact of the matter is that the legal drinking age is primarily just politics when it comes to university students. Its impact one way or the other still does not address the fundamental problems of alcohol abuse in young people.

The failure of programs like DARE show us that it’s not enough to tell kids what they should and should not do. That may work with a child, but eventually everyone grows up.
Perhaps the real issue is not what is legally allowed to young people or the most effective way to tell kids “No.” Maybe many college-age people are just waiting for someone to acknowledge that it is their choice either way. Maybe they are not looking for a leader after all. Could it be they are just looking for a little guidance and support?

When you try to outline something like drinking alcohol, especially in the college years, in terms of right and wrong, legal and illegal you open the door for contradiction, hypocrisy, and confusion. Instead, let us forget about all of those false trappings and return to reality. In reality, kids and college students are making choices. The question remains: Have any of their teachers, parents, or other role models actually taught them how?

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=6127

Posted by HeraldAdmin on May 27 2009. Filed under Editorial, Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
Web Manager: I'm a Communication Student at WMU, a SCUBA Diver, Boater, Ordained Minister, Notary Public, Web Designer, Film Maker, DJ, and of course a Journalist. Born and raised in Port Huron, MI and a graduate of SC4. http://www.codykimball.com