There is no doubt about it – alcohol is a big part of our society. Whether someone drinks or not is actually, partly a defining characteristic about them. Maybe that’s purely form the perspective of a college student, but I think there’s some merit in saying that. And being in college, I have definitely seen the effects of drinking, whether they are positive or negative. Obviously, drinking is mostly a harmless event that is usually enjoyed with a group of friends, but there are significant dangers as well. Through my experiences with drinking, however, there is a commonly asked question: when did you start drinking? In high school? Freshman year? Never?
Usually these groups are split. Some people started drinking and partying in high school with their high school friends, usually behind the backs of their parents. Some didn’t drink until college. And some have never had a drink before. Whatever group a person belongs in, I’ve noticed a trend – those that drank in high school have tended to binge drink at a dangerous rate less often in college. Seems crazy and obviously secluded to the small sample size that is Concordia, but it’s my observation nonetheless. So, should that be encouraged? Have a drink or two with your parents before coming to college? Or even party a couple times with your high school friends before you get to college? It’s an interesting concept, that’s for sure.
Why exactly would it make sense to “condition” someone to drinking before they get to college where it is so prevalent? Well, as I mentioned before, binge drinking is common in college. And obviously harmful. However, if someone is used to drinking or has done it before, binge drinking becomes less prevalent. That would mean the effects of binge drinking on the brain would also decrease if an incoming freshman had experienced drinking before.
What exactly are those effects? Well, it’s well defined that alcohol has a direct impact on certain parts of the brain that involve movement, speech, judgment, and memory. The impact causes impairment, which results in the typical drunken behavior such as slurred speech, difficulty walking, blacking out, and impulsive behavior. In the case of a binge drinking session, these effects are amplified significantly.
The question becomes, should parents drink with their kids before they go off to college? In my experience, it seems that there would be advantages to this thought process. However, it is completely dependent on the parents.
Parents: When is it Appropriate for Your Kids to Drink?
Zero-tolerance laws are always enacted because they’re easy to enforce, not because they have even a passing relationship with “justice”, “logic”, or “common sense”.
Preventing parents/guardians from teaching responsible alcohol consumption is State-enforced child neglect. Parents are prevented from passing along knowledge and reinforcing moderation; with tragic consequences.
My parents provide a limited amount of alcohol to me from the time I was six or eight years old, under their supervision. My excursions into irresponsible drinking were very limited, and strictly based on the notion that if I had to sneak alcohol because I was underage, I might as well do it up “big”. When there’s no difference in the penalty for one drink versus “getting obliterated”, of course the kids will get obliterated. Our current laws ENCOURAGE binge drinking, and anyone with a brain (clearly not the hand-wringers or the politicians) can see that from a mile away. Countries with extensive history of parental oversight of “underage” drinking have lower rates of alcoholism than the USA.
OUR SYSTEM IS A PROVEN FAILURE. The fact that the hand-wringers have to go back to the legislature or local government every few years to enact ever-more-severe laws against underage drinking is proof that that system DOES NOT WORK, and it NEVER DID. Our current system is like utterly preventing “children” from driving a car, then at age 21, we enter them in a NASCAR race. Of course they lose control, crash, and burn.
Politicians who vote in favor of irrational, counter-productive laws should be prosecuted for failing to do their jobs–if they refuse to look at unintended consequences when considering legislation they are not doing what benefits society. The “problem” with underage drinking is not the underage drinkers. It’s the damned busybodies that prevent the kids from getting lessons in moderation, who create a situation where moderation is not rewarded, where alcohol is “forbidden fruit” and therefore unreasonably desirable, and who decree that the only good decision is one made by Government.
Prohibition did not work with adults. Why would we think it’s going to work out better when enacted against people with even less respect for authority, and with fewer ties to adult society? The current “underage drinking” and “binge drinking” policies across the USA are not merely “bad”, they’re outright insane. Society is suffering as a result.
We can also expect that this will never change: Busybodies and Government just hate to give up control of other people’s decisions.