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Would you allow your child to drive a car without first teaching her how to drive? The drinking age needs to be lowered in order for parents to take responsibility for teaching their kids how to drink.
1. The thrill of driving fast = how many can I drink before I feel good. Teach your child how to stay within the speed limit, know their personal limits, and how much is too much
2. Think of understanding the "subtleties of alcohol" as knowing the difference between an automatic and a stick shift. Kids just want to experience the alcohol (the thrill of the drive), so they just learn the automatic. Do parents teach kids the subtleties of wine/beer/hard liquor like they teach their kids how to drive a stick shift? NO. They need to have time to learn the difference between a fine merlot vs table wine, import vs domestic, Smirnoff vs Stoli - now they buy whatever they can get and therefore drink it as if it's their last glass of water (hit the gas and hope you don't hurt yourself).
3. Would you feel comfortable having her friends teach your kid how to drive a car? I don't understand why this to allowed to happen with something as mind altering as alcohol. Parents can't closely monitor after their child goes to college/moves out.
4. Why aren't there alcohol education courses required before being allowed to drink like there's driving education courses? They can be a prerequisite to college entrance/driver's license renewal/lowering of insurance rates.
It's irresponible behavior to think that someone who hasn't been educated to act like they have that knowledge. If you expect people to act responsibly, then we as a nation need to educate them and not expect them to know how to stay within the limits, how to shift gears, and how to drive without giving them a controlled setting so that they can learn while being monitored.
Signing off,
Amy
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