Another Reason to THINK Before You Send an E-mail

[AGDee]

Michigan must have been one of the early adopters of the 21 year old drinking age because it was 1976 or 77 when it changed here. By the time I started college in '83, it had been 21 long enough that we didn't feel the outrage that people a few years older than us had felt. There was also no "in loco parentis" going on at my college so that wasn't a factor with us either.

The main differences I see in drinking behaviors now:
1) As others have said, with the advent of the internet and perhaps reality TV, everything is "out there" and almost everybody has a camera with them at all times on their phones. There was no way to do a mass communication such as the one this thread is about.
2) Binge drinking was not funny or cool. For one, we mostly drank beer because we could afford little else. Secondly, we didn't want to get so drunk that we didn't remember anything. There just seemed to be more moderation.. to get a little tipsy and maintain it was more the norm. Occasionally someone over did it, but we didn't have power hours or try to do 21 shots on our 21st birthday, etc. Doing shots was pretty rare in my college world.
3) We took care of each other. If someone was getting too drunk, we got them out of there before they were totally out of control. Perhaps it was my campus culture, but if anybody ever went to the hospital with alcohol poisoning, especially from the Greek system, we never heard about it. I really don't think it happened at all during my years in college.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by VandalSquirrel

I was thinking of colleges where freshmen weren't allowed to have cars, almost everyone lives on campus, and is the kind of campus setting where everything was within walking distance.

Well, then as now that applied to some campuses and not to others.

As far as the change with the 26th amendment and what lead up to it, i wasn't applying it to you as I didn't think you were that old

Oh, bless you. No, I'm not that old -- not quite. My siblings, on the other hand . . . .

Anyway, FWIW, it was in 1984 that the federal government mandated the 21-year-old minimum age for purchasing and publicly consuming alcohol as a condition of receiving federal highway money.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Well, then as now that applied to some campuses and not to others.

Oh, bless you. No, I'm not that old -- not quite. My siblings, on the other hand . . . .

Anyway, FWIW, it was in 1984 that the federal government mandated the 21-year-old minimum age for purchasing and publicly consuming alcohol as a condition of receiving federal highway money.

Wow...we held out for a long time. Louisiana has always been ornery!

[ComradesTrue]

For comparison, I was in school from 1991-95. Not quite the 80s, but definitely not kids of today. AGDee's experience rang true with mine.

Originally Posted by AGDee

Binge drinking was not funny or cool. Secondly, we didn't want to get so drunk that we didn't remember anything. There just seemed to be more moderation.. to get a little tipsy and maintain it was more the norm.

This was exactly the case on my campus. Plus, tipsy is more fun.

Occasionally someone over did it, but we didn't have power hours or try to do 21 shots on our 21st birthday, etc. Doing shots was pretty rare in my college world.

I don't remember ANYONE doing this. Shots, yes. Shots on your 21st? Definitely. Doing 21 of them? Not a chance.

We took care of each other. If someone was getting too drunk, we got them out of there before they were totally out of control. Perhaps it was my campus culture, but if anybody ever went to the hospital with alcohol poisoning, especially from the Greek system, we never heard about it. I really don't think it happened at all during my years in college.

I can't remember anyone going to the hospital either, and I lived in our house, which was part of the entire Greek Village, for 2 years. Yes, students passed out from drinking. But either no one drank to the extent of needing to go to the hospital, OR as has been said throughout the thread.. we had the common sense to keep it quiet.