I am, admittedly an old fart. And admittedly in my college days I drank underage and smoked substances that were not legal. This is by way of preamble.
My number 3 son is now a sophmore at a smallish liberal arts college thay shall emain unnamed. This school has had several serious incidents related to alcohol overuse in the last several years. I suspect most have. The last incident resulted in the administration taking some action to crack down on obvious violations of the law.
A sizable portion of the student body, and some parents of students even, are complaining vociferously about this enforcement: Enforcing the rules is unfair. Only giving athletes three strikes for breaking the rules about drinking is overly aggresive and disrespectful and enforcement will only force these underage adults to drink quickly and heavily in their rooms instead of socially. So on.
I hear and read these comments, and cannot help but be disgusted by the entitlement this students express. They seriously believe that they have a RIGHT to break the law with impunity and that it is unfair for secuity to stop them from drinking several beers and leaning over a second floor porch railing with a “write-up” (yes a real complaint).
So opinions from the TMs … is underage binge drinking in college a right that colleges should respect and turn a blind eye to? Do the complaints that I relay strike you as disgusting whines of spoiled overindulged rich kids who feel that rules should never apply to them? Or am I just out of touch?
Well like you said, its hypocritical for one generation to tell the next one they cant do something they did.
Plus at the same time they tell the colleges students that they are now adults and should have the right to do whatever they want with their bodies. Except of course to drink.
What pissed me off about being hypocritical was that when I was in college they would sell beer at the games, they would allow alumni to have keggers, and would serve alcohol at university functions - but yet students can’t drink???
Most college students are under 21. Which means they can’t legally drink.
Why shouldn’t the college enforce the law on people living on its property (and for whom they have a legal responsibility)? Why should students expect the college to allow them to drink illegally?
Schools aren’t cracking down on kids having a glass of wine with dinner. Alcohol abuse makes very real problems for both schools and teachers, and needs to be separated from “the college experience.”
A smarter alcohol culture in general would be great, but that’s outside a school’s sphere of influence.
The level of alcohol enforcement varies a great deal school to school. I don’t care if an under-21 college student drinks, and I don’t want the school to be spending the money I gave them on preventing it. Drinking will happen, and I’d rather it be open and supervised than the alternative.
You’re disgusted by the students’ expression of entitlement to do what college students have always done? It’s a stupid law. I agree that underage students openly drinking on a porch are stupid and should shut the hell up if they get “written up”.
This page from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism says that “1,825 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from alcohol-related unintentional injuries.” I think the authorities are trying to teach the student to learn their limits and to drink responsibly. Trying to stamp out all underage drinking is just going to drive it underground, where kids are going to be afraid to bring someone who has drunk too much to the hospital.
They are adults, The 21 age limit is a ridiculous anomaly. What they drink should be no-ones business but their own. By the same token they should be held accountable as adults for any problems they cause after they have chosen to drink.
The students need to be told in no uncertain terms that they are not so special that the rules don’t apply to them. That’s adult life.
At the same time, TPTB need to reduce the drinking age. They are 18. If they can, marry, divorce, fight in wars and be executed, they can drink alcohol if they so choose.
I disagree with this particular law, in general, so I’m not going to advocate for stronger enforcement of it. If they were in high school, sure, but they’re not.
Not so hypocritical. I did not believe I had a right to drink or smoke pot. I did not know anyone whose attitude was how dare a college security officer not look the other way when I did those illegal activities in plain sight. If all that happened when caught is that we were told to stop and if on a sports team told two more strikes and you are disciplined, no police record involved, we’d have been grateful.
What the laws should be are a matter of reasoned debate. Getting huffy that you cannot openly ignore the laws is another thing. The related issue is the property damage and health risks associated with binge drinking in this environment.
I am not worried about my son at all but I will speak as a parent. The school should not try to parent these adults but neither should they artificially create a world in which rules and laws can be ignored without consequence paradoxically facilitating worse consequences including student alcohol related deaths.
As I understand it, the main reason for the nationwide drinking age of 21 was to cut down on drunk driving incidents. If this is a residential college, where the drinking takes place on (or within walking distance of) campus, that’s not so much of an issue.
If there hadn’t been such incidents, I’d see no reason to crack down. The best argument for such enforcement is that it appears to be necessary to ensure student safety. But maybe there’s a better way, like cracking down on the dangerous or destructive behavior that the drinking is apparently “making” students do.
In any case, I’m not sure enforcing the drinking age is the way to go. Banning alcohol on campus altogether might be preferable. Having a campus full of students, some of whom can legally drink and some of whom can’t, is an unstable situation, from the point of view of enforcement and of the students themselves.
AK84 your next door neighbors in India have some even dumber liquor laws. The drinking age in some states is 25, and some states ban alcohol sales entirely (even more used to).
I think the age limit for all those things you mention should be 18, except that I’d probably lower the age to join the military to 16 or 17.