Out of class essay3

Imagine you turned 18 and your friend gifting you alcohol on your birthday, this may seem to be a dream to you, but it may be true. According to Radley Balko, a senior editor for magazine ‘Reader’, a new chorus of critics says it’s the time to lower the drinking age. There has been debate over the entire nation to lower the drinking age. I personally do not support this. Therefore, I would rebut Radley Balko’s article ‘Back to 18?’ where he suggests and explains that drinking age should be reduced to 18. This article was written on April12th, 2007 on www.reason.com. This article also appeared in www.foxnews.com.
Have you ever thought why teenagers consume alcohol? There may be several reasons for that. They may try it for curiosity, for style statement or maybe because others are doing it. But, I am not in favor of the author to lower the drinking age to 18. The author starts the article by giving the historical view of the drinking age of alcohol and what changes have come up till now. But, I think he hasn’t given the complete view of why the laws have changed and what circumstances have lead to change the drinking age to 21. The historical facts given by the author are incomplete and are presented in such a way that they support author’s point of view instead of giving the true picture. Then the author gives various reasons in the paragraph followed by mentioning the names of people and associations which want Government to lower the drinking age to 18 from the present and appropriate age of 21.
According to the author, US have the highest drinking age in the world as compared to other countries. In some of the countries drinking age is as low as 16. By this author meant that we are different and backward from other countries and not changing to the requirements of the world. This is wrong because US is much more advanced and successful nation than other countries. Author mentions in his article that the human brain continues developing until at least the age of 21. He also supports his point by giving example of study on lab mice done by alcohol expert Dr. David Hanson of State University of New York at Potsdam. I think and most of you will agree with me at we are more responsible at the age of 21 than at 18. A college student will be more mature and responsible than a high school student. Experience not only makes man more intelligent but also makes him more responsible and this lets him take decisions which are good for him and this world.
Author states that high school students in other countries do much better than high school students of US in standardized tests in spite of lower drinking age. I see that there is no connection between studies and minimum age to drink. Students from other countries do well maybe because of the education system in that country. Being an international student, I think education in US has much higher level than in other countries. According to American Medical Association in its article ‘Underage Drinkers at Higher Risk of Brain Damage’ , research shows teen drinkers score worse than their non-drinking peers on vocabulary, visual-spatial, and memory tests, and are more likely to perform poorly in school as a whole. Author says that Government can lower the age and create more laws to set national speed limits, seat belt laws, motorcycle helmet laws and set a national blood-alcohol standard for DWI cases to avoid accidents and unpleasant conditions. But, I think in reality there is a lot to be done to enforce these laws.
According to Dr. John Nelson of American Medical Association, scientific evidence suggests that even modest alcohol consumption in late childhood and adolescence can result in permanent brain damage. Alcohol is not good for health and I think it should be kept out of reach of teenagers. There should be more strict laws for underage drinking and more stringent rules on consumption of alcohol in universities. People who consume alcohol suffer from various behavioral and psychological problems. Alcohol causes various health problems as well among which liver breakdown is the most common. There are also several complications in the social life of people who consume alcohol.
Alcohol consumption not only affects the health of people but also their social lives. I think teenagers should be kept away from alcohol before they get addicted to it. By lowering the age we are not only letting them drink, but also spoiling the future of our nation. I think the author is very wrong here to support the point to lower the drinking age. Most of us believe that responsibility comes with experience and I think one must be responsible to drink. At last, I would like to mention a quote I read somewhere I cant recall- “The first thing in the human personality that dissolves in alcohol is dignity”


Article link - http://www.reason.com/news/show/119618.html