Almost everyone has strong feelings about the legal drinking age in the United States. But there are five main standpoints that I will focus on. Currently the legal age to consume alcohol in the U.S. is 21 due to the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. Everyone at the high school level has consumed alcohol underage, or has had the opportunity to, so they can relate to what I am about to say. And this is the typical story that you will here wherever you go. At my high school I would say about 80% of the students had consumed alcohol underage, and it was viewed as no big deal, and the social thing to do. Most of the students, along with myself did it just for fun, and it was a casual, irregular occasion. But there was a group of students who eventually started doing drinking more heavily and on regular basis. They would show up to class with water bottles full of vodka, and they would skip class to go drink. Those few students started to do poorly in school, and I didn’t see them as often. When I did they looked dirty, and unkempt, and it seemed like they didn’t have a strong drive to do much. I would wonder if their parents were looking after them at all anymore. Most of those kids did not go to college after graduation, some didn’t even graduate. Underage drinking does have some problems, and there are many stories like the one I just told.

But what about those of us who just did the casual drinking, who were responsible enough to realize that drinking even underage in moderation is no big deal. Most of us who did the casual drinking were extremely smart, and went to prestigious colleges like Brown, Harvard, and Washington University. We kept ourselves from drinking and driving, and we followed the schools rules of no substances on campus. We mostly listened to what our parents told us to do, and what we should never do.Many people believe that underage drinking is a terrible thing, but is it really so bad?

Created for CTW1 at Santa Clara University with Marc Bousquet