Third Blog Post

Since my topic is underage drinking and should the drinking age be lowered I think my audience will still be my classmates, other underage college drinkers and those who may not even be in college yet. Underage drinking is beginning in middle and high school. Many of my friends in high school drank and partied frequently. I think my readers can definitely see the timeliness in my topic. Underage drinking is a serious issue that has killed many innocent people. I understand completely why this is an important topic, but I wonder sometimes if my friends who drink realize how serious of an issue it has become. My purpose in wanting to research this topic is to find out more factual information and expose myself to other people’s viewpoints. I am invested in this topic because I believe more can be done to reduce the number of people who go crazy while drinking underage. I know that not all underage drinkers are wild and drink and drive, but it impairs judgment and they may make other poor choices. In high school I think our teachers wanted us to be objective to see how well we could research and present both sides of an argument. In college I think it is more about building on those skills and being able to say what you want to say. Sometimes when there is personal investment the paper may shift to more of what the writer has to say instead of presenting multiple viewpoints. I have found a number of sources that view the drinking age in many ways. The sources in favor of lowering the drinking age have said that it should be lowered because this will prevent it from being a forbidden fruit. Since it would no longer be illegal it would not be as cool. They also said it will help prevent binge drinking at fraternities and other parties because they do not have to conceal the drinking anymore. Another source suggested there be drinking learners permits for 18 year olds so they can drink, but under close surveillance. The main points of the sources against lowering the drinking age are that this will increase the number of deaths and that by drinking before the age of 14 their chances of becoming addicted are much higher. Another argument is that the brain does not finish maturing until age 25 so underage drinking could potentially cause damage. One new interesting thing I learned is that college student who said they had drunk in the past month declined 19% from 1982 to 2000. I have learned that doing good research is time consuming, but it is very beneficial. I took the time to go to the library and found a number of good books. I am going to comment on Audrey Marion’s blog post.