Rossana Larronda
ENGH 803 – Introduction to College Writing II
Project #1 - What the legal drinking age should be in the USA?
Professor Kyle Hetrick
September 29, 2008
The problem of balancing drinking age to reduce alcohol abuse in USA is likely to continue. It involves issues of freedom, responsibility, parental rights, politics and many other realms of life. United States has the highest drinking age in the world, and the problem with alcohol abuse has been one the most discussed subjects in this country. Americans lawmaker had raised the legal drinking age to twenty-one in the 1970s considering that people will drink more responsibly, because with age comes responsibility. However they did not consider that responsibility is something that comes from experience and teaching – not just age. Since the problem with alcohol abuse under twenty one years old has been a very important problem in this country, we understand the higher age imposed is counter productive. The legal drinking age should be lowered to eighteen and people should be educated when they are younger.
Although the legal purchase age is 21, a majority of young people under this age consume alcohol, and too many of them do so in an irresponsible manner. This is largely because drinking is seen by these youth as an enticing "forbidden fruit," a "badge of rebellion against authority," and a symbol of adulthood. We can never escape the fact that people are curious by nature, and young people will continue to drink as long as they continue to see the majority of adults in this country drink. Furthermore, the legal drinking age should be lowered which will lessen the image of alcohol as the “Forbidden Fruit” and a symbol of adulthood; many statistics show that students under twenty-one years old make up the majority of alcohol abusers in colleges. It is estimated that underage drinking costs...