This is one thing I do thank my parents for.



In my college town, those with mommy and daddy's credit cards went to Hy-vee to purchase liquor because it showed up on the bill as groceries. My last year at college, they started a city-wide "meal plan", not university sponsored, where you could use the same pre-loaded card at most of the restaurants in town (Including some bar & grills).

I went to a Lutheran college that was filled with kids who had been the good kids in high school and never drank or such. They were always the ones that went crazy the first year at college. They would get drunk every night, sleep with tons of guys and cry about it all the next morning. They had no freedom in high school and they didn't know how to handle it when they got up here. I also came from a culture where alcohol was not taboo, although neither of my parents drink, and so i never say the big deal. I go out and have fun but i've never had any of the experiences my other friends did when they first started drinking in college.

I firmly believe its a stage that many, NOT ALL (before i have people jumping down my throat), go through and there's little we can do to stop it. If the campuses were more accepting and worked to keep it under control instead of being everyone's enemy they could cut down on some really dangerous activities like driving drunk, since you can't walk home without getting harassed, or being scared to bring a friend in to the hospital because he and you are underage.

Sidenote: A girl at my campus was at a party and someone slipped a date rape drug in her drink. She had to get her stomach pumped and spent the night in the hospital. She woke up to a Minor in Consumption ticket on her nightstand from the campus PD

Our campus had a policy, and the police for the most part respected it...if you went to the hospital for alcohol/drug related problems, there was no backlash (no academic pro, fines, tickets, etc..) with the theory that they'd rather have students get help and live then worry about getting in trouble.

That would be the logical way to do it......

Exactly. I don't see what's so difficult about this concept. Teach your kids how to become reasonably responsible adults before they go to college -- this includes teaching them about drinking. Teaching kids about drinking is far more involved and complex than just saying "Don't do it!"

BU was just the opposite - I knew of a couple of cases of students getting rushed to the hospital for alcohol poisoning, then receiving a disciplinary letter in the mail a short time later.

33girl, you're right - parents have to take part of this responsibility as well. It can't be left to the school.

So drinking is the same to you as military service?

The two serve the same function in society?

-Rudey

No, Rudey, she's saying that the teens that go to college and are not responsible enough yet to handle alcohol/underage drinking are the same age/mental capacity as those who are considered old enough to enlist in the armed forces. If you're not considered mature enough to handle alcohol, how are you considered mature enough to handle a gun in armed combat?? Plus, her comment was in response to the article about 18-year old brains not being mature enough to make responsible decsions, and then she posted the part of the article about drinking.

Actually we fight wars out of necessity. At the end of the day if you're 5 years old or 25, if someone is threatening your life many people understand why you would fight back. We drink alcohol for pleasure. The two are very different.

Additionally, different tasks take different levels of aptitude for decision making. Not all questions easily find answers at the magic age of 21 or 25 or 30. Some questions can be answered quite easily at a very young age.

So that link makes no sense. In the future, just let your sister talk.

-Rudey

Jess was right.

-33
--I just ate a cookie the size of a baby's head and didn't feel like explaining myself for the ookabillionth time.

The assumption here is that parent's understand control and limits when it comes to alcohol. American culture tends toward wanting, not restraint. Look at the size of our cars, houses, closets etc, we are not good at saying "I don't need". I'm not sure I believe that your average american parents truly understand limits and how to teach that to their children. Until we as an entire society can begin to understand this, there will always be problems.

One moment of culture shock was when I was visiting a German school... I must have been about 16 and they were celebrating the last day of school, sitting in their classroom (with the teacher) having your typical end of year party, except they had beer too. It was strange for me as an American to see it.

Another thing to keep in mind is the difference between beer and liquor. (correct me if I'm wrong) but there are different drinking ages for liquor vs beer.

unfortunately, if the enlisting age was 21, we'd have no volunteer service...and I know its the SAME old argument you always hear....but you can vote, and you can fight, and you can drink overseas, but you cant drink it the country that you're defending - not even on base anymore. Total crap.

Classic case of the government having its cake and eating it too....

"Fight for us, but no, you cant drink, you arent old enough."

"Well, fine, if I cant drink, I dont wanna fight..."

"Sorry kid, it doesnt work that way."

Why is there nobody in office whose smart enough to try to change this f*cked up policy?

Where?

How many 18 year olds that go into the military are having their life threatened (on a military level)? What are they fighting back against? And your saying that just because a 5 year old has the capacity to know to fight back when threatened, they are capable of making the decsion to join the armed forces??

So are you implying that the question of whether to enlist is easy, and how much and when to drink is hard?? I realize that different tasks take different aptitudes, and there is not a magic age, but what makes 18 LEGALLY the magic age for enlisting and 21 LEGALLY the magic age for drinking? Whether you agree or not, I believe 33 was stating her opinion, that 18 is not a good age for people to make that decsion.

It's not saying drinking=enlisting. The comparitive is mental capacity of an 18 year old, if they aren't able to make good choices concerning alcohol, which this and several other articles show, how are they supposed to make good choices when it comes to shooting someone??

When you're 18 and in the military, how many choices or decisions are you really making? At that point, aren't you just following orders?