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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2009

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OPINION

Let's Teach Teens How to Drink (Wisely)

By John Johnson| Posted Jun 20, 09 9:20 AM CDT|

(Newser) – It's time to stop treating underage drinking like a joke—5,000 deaths and 100,000 sexual assaults a year should make that clear—and give states the freedom to get creative with their laws, writes John McCardell in the Atlantic. The federal age-21 restriction only pushes the drinking underground and makes it more dangerous, he contends, so why not try allowing states to opt out without penalty? Some alternatives:

Allow 18-year-olds to drink if they've finished high school, attended a meaningful alcohol-education course, and kept their record clean.
Mandate alcohol education at an early age.
Adopt zero-tolerance laws for drivers of all ages.
Require ignition interlocks on car—a high blood-alcohol level and it won't start.

[Images (1)]

[Quotes (1)]

Genuine alcohol-education programs might help cut down on abuse. (Shutter Stock)

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The way our society addresses this problem has been about as effective as a parachute that opens on the second bounce. - John McCardell, Atlantic

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27 comments

VIEWING:

EddyTeach
Jun 20, 09 9:37 AM CDT

I know a lot of university presidents are pushing for an 18-year-old drinking age to combat binge drinking. Reply

IN RESPONSE:

chicken
Jun 20, 09 3:02 PM CDT

It does seem that the "sheltered" kids get more rowdy than those who were allowed to drink responsibly in their homes.

| 0 minutes ago

Alexandria
Jun 20, 09 10:03 AM CDT

Yeah but we taught teens how to have sex wisely and there are still tons of teen pregnancies. And teens drink even before they become 18. If anyone wants to drink, they'll find a way, it doesn't matter if they've taken a course in alcohol education and know the dangers or if their record is clean. Reply

IN RESPONSE:

glasswright
Jun 20, 09 10:41 AM CDT

no, we did not teach teens how to have sex wisely. we taught abstinence only education. once teens are taught how to drink responsibly, they wouldn't have to be stopped from drinking.

IN RESPONSE:

2-bits
Jun 20, 09 11:33 AM CDT

Places where we have taught sex wisely have far fewer pregnancies and STDs. This might be a model we want to follow.

IN RESPONSE:

BeatBlaster
Jun 20, 09 11:41 AM CDT

Alexandria I don't know where you are getting your information from on sex but I can assure you that in the Chicagoland area there is virtually zero sex education and there's a huge movement out here that strongly believes that education is the key to reducing teen pregnancies and teen violence. We tried abstinence and it's doing us no good. All it does is leave a sort of "power vacuum" - one that leaves the matter of educating our kids about sex to their friends and other people.

IN RESPONSE:

kokuaguy
Jun 20, 09 12:46 PM CDT

High school drinking can be monitored by parents, school authorities acting "in loco parentis," and the juvenile courts. 18 year olds are legally adults but treated like kids which makes them resentful and disrespectful of the law. The article describes in detail the kinds of safeguards needed to make this work. We should allow states which commit to putting the safeguards in place to experiment with lowering the drinking age on a trial basis for a period of five years without losing federal highway funds, etc.

IN RESPONSE:

Jes
Jun 20, 09 8:12 PM CDT

Here in Missouri we had abstinence only sex education. I went through two years of it, and my mom freaked out when she realized they never even showed us a condom the entire time. "Sex education" is only a litany of STD information (honestly useful) and fear mongering that will never be enough to control horny teenagers. Take it from a 20 year old, current sex ed is a joke.

IN RESPONSE:

wwwonderer
Jun 22, 09 1:16 PM CDT

@BeatBlaster. I was born and raised in Chicago. I went to Whitney Young, which gave sex education as part of gym/health. I considered it very effective and better than the way my parents' generation -and their parents' generation- treated sex: simply not talk about it and don't do it until you're married. @Alexandria: Yeah I think either you have a false sense of socio-cultural American history, or you had a very different upbringing.

| 0 minutes ago

jeangnome
Jun 20, 09 11:01 AM CDT

I do remember during the Clintion administration the schools teaching safe sex, how to use condoms, and even providing condoms. Teens don't want wisdom they want to be adults without responsibility. Reply

IN RESPONSE:

2-bits
Jun 20, 09 11:36 AM CDT

Bush promoted abstinence only. There were more babies born under Bush than Clinton. The reason: Teen pregnancies. Clearly one method of education works better than the other

IN RESPONSE:

BeatBlaster
Jun 20, 09 11:45 AM CDT

Of course they don't want wisdom! They want freedom! This whole notion of "ouit of sight, out of mind" has got to stop because it simply isn't working. Someone will always be available to teach your kids about something whether it's in a school, at home or on the streets. Teens do crave information and the second they become interested in something they learn more about it. Pre-emptively teaching them about their options gives them choices - something abstinence simply does not do. Education is the key and, in my belief, the best way to combat teen pregnancies. Give kids a choice. Don't let them walk around without knowing what they are getting themselves into because they are going to do whatever they want whenever they want and there isn't a damn thing mom, dad, teacher or even God can do about it.

| 0 minutes ago

2-bits
Jun 20, 09 11:41 AM CDT

I think the Dutch model of drug education should be the example we follow. They basically don't even try to teach that you shouldn't use drugs and alcohol; for one thing, they're freely and legally available, so you'd probably try them even if they told you to. But I digress.They basically tell you HOW to drink alcohol and take drugs safely: amounts, not to mix with other drugs, smart things to do when partying, etc. The result is that few if any dutch kids seriously harming themselves with drugs and alcohol, while tourists (Americans in particular) often flings themselves off bridges and such because they binge drink, take acid, and smoke pot all in one sitting or because they simply don't how to handle themselves and be safe when under the influence. If any one curious, I know about this because my girlfriend is a dutch resident (and spent high school there) who studies at my university. Reply

| 0 minutes ago

doingtherightthing
Jun 20, 09 12:29 PM CDT

teaching starts with the parents. They set the moral values. Schools screw things up by teaching its ok to do what you want, when you want so, drink when you want. Schools have no moral value. Reply

-2

IN RESPONSE:

kokuaguy
Jun 20, 09 12:50 PM CDT

Shools = Satan?

IN RESPONSE:

kokuaguy
Jun 20, 09 12:51 PM CDT

Proofreading is good.

IN RESPONSE:

Mad
Jun 20, 09 12:57 PM CDT

Wow, one in a row, Rightthing. I agree, parents are the one's responsible for instilling a moral code in their children, as it should be. I don't want the school to decide what's right and what's wrong. But, of course, most parents don't even teach their children the alphabet, much less the true dangers of alcohol

IN RESPONSE:

anchower
Jun 20, 09 8:09 PM CDT

None in a row, rightthing. "Schools screw things up by teaching its ok to do what you want, when you want so, drink when you want. Schools have no moral value." Evidently that's all you learned in school, but that's hardly what they teach.

| 0 minutes ago

tbirdsradio
Jun 20, 09 12:54 PM CDT

Teenagers drinking wisely?...HAHAHAHA...Morons Reply

-7

| 0 minutes ago

Timinator2K
Jun 20, 09 1:56 PM CDT

In rural WV and KY STD''s are rampant and expanding with little sex ed and prevention programs...just like the cities. Next up, AIDS, bigger and badder and deadlier. So much for the so-called sexual revolution. Reply

| 0 minutes ago

Grayone2008
Jun 20, 09 2:39 PM CDT

Should we not also instruct the kiddies in the responsible use of injectable narcotics Reply

-3

| 0 minutes ago

sadtimes
Jun 20, 09 4:38 PM CDT

I think putting ignition locks on cars is a little bit extreme, what happened to America land of the free? I don't think that a blood level of .09 or .10 necessarily should prevent all adults from driving. Certain individuals have much higher tolerances to alcohol and have much better reflexes when under the influences. I'm not saying to go drink a 1/5 of whisky and then get on the highway, but I think that individuals need to be allowed the freedom to make their own judgment calls. We can't put restrictions and locks on everything, then this wouldn't be the land of the free, it would be the land of the restricted. Reply

-2

IN RESPONSE:

Fondue
Jun 20, 09 7:13 PM CDT

I think it's been well stated in the past and in the law that driving is a privilege - not a right. You have to earn it. That's why there's driving schools and tests to pass. Remember, there are only -certain- inalienable rights.

IN RESPONSE:

anchower
Jun 20, 09 8:05 PM CDT

You're not free to drive drunk and put other people's lives at grave risk. Ignition interlocks are a great and should be standard on all cars, not just teens'. They would eliminate drunk driving and save countless lives. And what's this about "individuals need to be allowed the freedom to make their own judgment calls"? Alcohol impairs your ability to make those selfsame "judgment calls." Jesus. (Oh, and there's no such thing as a "land of the free," and you wouldn't like to live in one if there were. Why? Because a real "land of the free" would be an anarchy.)

IN RESPONSE:

prowlerzee
Jul 27, 09 10:06 PM CDT

sadtimes is absolutely correct, and the "progressive" Obots have only proven that they are susceptible to mass marketing. As in "buzzed driving is drunk driving." What boneheaded ideas the "zero tolerance" and the ignition locks are. Why not shut down all restaurants, then, if no one is allowed to go out and have wine with dinner? And how are those car alarms working out for you? How many thefts have they prevented? Compared to how constantly they disturb the peace. Only in this case, when the stupid ignition locks inevitably give false positives or simply break down, as do allllll such devices as computers, touchscreen voting machines, car alarms, etc etc etc ----not only are you stuck with an inoperative car, in what may be an emergency, or simply a work situation, and you will be stuck proving your innocence in a criminal case, in direct opposition to the constitution of the united states, and the founders' wisdom of innocent until proven guilty.

IN RESPONSE:

prowlerzee
Jul 27, 09 10:11 PM CDT

Fondue is a slave. It's as if he's advocating that Gates should've been arrested because he wasn't deferential enough to the "distinguished" officer and deserved to be arrested in his own home. In fact, "driving is a privilege" is a police state mantra that has worked on most of you sheep. But the reality is, the Constitution guarantees us RIGHTS that are unspecified for a reason. We have MANY more rights than are spelled out. They are inalienably ours. If putting people at risk were a CRIMINAL offense, where is law enforcement on placing charges and taking away driving "privileges" from cell phoners? Why don't we stick with ACTUAL crimes instead of potential "precrime" arrests?

| 0 minutes ago

Chudluv
Jun 21, 09 6:38 AM CDT

When I turned 12, my mother took the fun of snicking out with some friends and told us (with their parents ok) that if We wanted to drink; We could do so as long as she was there to monitor it and to keep things in check. So, once a year during New Years (until I was 16) , a bunch of us had "wine coolers" whoa.. Though, it was of her and my step-father's alcoholism that kept me from going down that same path. But if We harden the laws from ages 18-21, where if you are caught either DWI, DUI, or any law broken with alcohol you lost more then ever if you hadn't picked up that drink... Reply

| 0 minutes ago

View all 27 comments »

parenting • alcohol • binge drinking • alcohol abuse • drunk driving • teenage drivers • teenager • drinking age

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