Implications Post

So what are the implications if the issue is never resolved? That really depends on what the issue is.

If the issue is about the age in itself, then my answer is that it is, as a matter of fact, already “resolved” insofar as there IS an existing drinking age. Whether people are happy about it is another matter entirely. And even then, if the age were to be changed, I don’t think one can consider that to be “resolved” as there will be others around who think that the age settled upon is not entirely appropriate. As this article states, the proposed prohibition of alcohol in America has “provoked strong controversy and conflict.”

But the age, as I have repeatedly said, but which tends to be forgotten in a discussion about drinking, is not the issue. The issue which needs to be resolved is the issue of college students’ attitudes toward alcohol. Behavioural studies such as this show that attitude is one main component that influences one’s action.

If unhealthy drinking attitudes are not revised, there is likely to be a continued alcohol problem amongst college students. As it is, we see an increasing trend of college students binge drinking. The effects of such attitudes towards alcohol among college students are potentially horrific because these are the people who will become parents and future leaders. One can only hope that they will eventually learn and “grow up,” and most eventually do, but that just means that they grow up, have their own children, and the cycle repeats itself with more than 1000 alcohol-related college student deaths per year. Admittedly, in a country the size of the US what is 1000 deaths? Just 1000 children belonging to at least 2000 parents.

So the question is, can we change attitudes, and if so, how?