Arguments, discussed in Essentials of Argument, take the basic form of “making a claim and supporting it with reasons and evidence to convince an audience to change the way its participants think about the issue. Arguments happen in society all the time. Freedom of speech is guaranteed to Americans by the bill of rights and everyone has their own opinions about a wide range of issues. One issue that is apparent in today’s society is to change the legal drinking age or not.
The age was raised from 18 to 21 in the mid 1980s in attempt to cut down on alcohol related injuries and deaths. Groups like MADD (Mothers against Drunk Driving) were created with the intent to inform the public of the negative effects of alcohol and reduce teen drinking. Still today the majority of college students today drinks heavily or binge drink, 5 drinks in a night at least once a week. This proves the point the age is at the appropriate level because college students may not be mature enough to purchase alcohol.
The United States has the highest drinking age limit in the world and many European countries, such as Austria, France and Germany, have a drinking age of 16. In these countries the rate of alcohol abuse is much less because young adults learn how to drink responsibly by their parents. Also, at 18 years old you can be drafted to the armed services and sent overseas for fight for your country yet you cannot consume an alcoholic beverage. Every person is entitled to their own opinions on every issue and it is the arguers job to convince their audience to agree.
Monday, April 20th, 2009
17 years ago
I agree with you that the high drinking age in the United States definitely causes much more alcohol abuse by teens than in countries with lower drinking ages. I believe the high drinking age is directly proportional to how many deaths are caused by drunk drivers and how many people are hospitalized due to alcohol related accidents. America is one of the few countries that socially drinks as a means of just getting drunk, in comparison to other countries who drink as a sort of delicacy. I have a friend that lives in Germany where the drinking age is much lower who, when visiting the states, was very surprised to see the difference in how Americans binge drink from how she was used to drinking back in Germany. I think eventually the drinking age will be lowered and over time the amount of alcohol abuse will be greatly reduced.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the high drinking age in America definitely results in more alcohol abuse compared to those countries with lower drinking ages. I believe that the high drinking age in the United States is directly porpotional to the number of deaths caused by underage and teen drivers as well as the number of people hospitalized each year due to an alcohol related accident. America is one of the few countries who consumes alcohol socially, solely as means to get drunk, unlike other countries who consume alcohol at dinner and other occasions as a kind of delicacy. My friend from Germany was, when she visited the states, very shocked in how different the binge alcohol consumption in America was from the the more formal consumption in Germany. I think that eventually the drinking age will be lowered, and in time the amount of alcohol abuse will be dramatically lowered.
ReplyDelete