Lower+Drinking+Age

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__NPR story arguing why space exploration is still important--Sybenga__
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= = National Public Radio interviewed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson about his new book titled: //Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier.// Tyson argues that the idea of space exploration can motivate the best and brightest of future generations to pursue __careers__ in science and math, which will lead to innovations in all fields within science and technology. Because space captures the imagination of the general public, a renewed investment in our space program will cultivate a renewed commitment to the disciplines of science and math. Tyson claims that NASA is severely underfunded, citing the fact that right now, one year of military funding is equal to fifty years of NASA's budget. He also argues that studying problems on other planets (global warming on Venus and the depletion of water on Mars) will help humans to develop creative solutions to similar problems on planet Earth. He also insists that it is imperative to understand the cosmos because Earth is intimately enmeshed in the universe. To illustrate, he notes the relatively small probability of an asteroid crashing into the earth in the next twenty years. Tyson is an expert in the field who recently published a book on the topic, although he takes a strong perspective in favor of the merits of space exploration, without exploring its risks. = =

= = =  Please compose your summary and critical review offline, and then cut and paste the text into the wiki, as only one person can "EDIT" the page at once. = = = []

This article, and website in general, is dedicated to spreading awareness about why the drinking age should be lowered. While slightly biased because the site is dedicated to youth rights and therefore more likely to side with the opinions of youths, the information is presented in a fair way. This link provides a legislative analysis of the law that requires a drinking age of 21 and discusses the history of the law as well as its modern developments. -Katharine Richters

[|http://drinkingage.procon.org/#pro_con] This site specifically examines the pros AND cons of lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18 years old. Both sides of the argument are fairly thoroughly examined, providing an unbiased source of information and ideas. The list of pros and cons on this site even offers the same amount of bullets for "pro" as it does for "con" thus giving the topic balance and providing equal amounts of information for each side of the debate.

-Katharine Richters

= __**LOWER DRINKING AGE**__ =

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-20-drinkingage_N.htm -Monty Montgomery

This article from USA Today examines the debate over lowering the legal drinking age from 21 to 18. There are a lot of helpful statistics in this article, about both public opinion and mortality rates. Th author makes the point that although the movement to lower the drinking age is "picking up steam," 77% of Americans still oppose the lowering of the drinking age, and congress has laws in place that make lowering the drinking age a dangerous financial decision for many states. This is a balanced article that properly explores both sides of the argument.

[]- Monty Montgomery

This article details the history of the drinking age in the united States. This source may have a slight tendency towards presenting the information with a bias (toward lowering the drinking age), because it was written by the national youth rights organization, but on the whole presents relevant and factual information. This article is a great resource because understanding the history of the drinking age is vital to making progress in lowering or maintaining it. The drinking age was not always 21, and until 1984 there was no national legislation on the matter, and many states had a drinking age of 18. The introduction of the 1984 legislation restricted the distribution of federal funding to states with a drinking age of lower than 21. There are many more helpful statistics, opinions, studies, and testimonies in this article, and as it's not too long, I recommend giving it a read.

Should The Drinking Age Be Lowered From 21 To A Younger Age?
[] Sophie Ellis

This article provides an equal amount of representation on both sides of the debate. It gives a list of “pros” and a list of “cons” in an easy to read, table set up. It also provides statistics in the __form__ of bar graphs and pie charts. It gives links to CBS News coverage on the debate and a 60 minutes segment. Finally, it gives readers the opportunity to click on a link and comment as to why they are pro lowering or against lowering. This link is a non-biased, multi-information source and is very useful regardless of which side you support. While the discussion board is biased and not very reliable, the website itself is reliable and government sponsored. The article provides a load of data and differing opinions and should be used for either side.

The Debate On Lowering The Drinking Age
[] Sophie Ellis

This article is written in favor of lowering the drinking age to 18. It gives testimony from college officials, a chief of police, and the family of a college student who died from alcohol poisoning. All of these people are in favor of lowering the drinking age, each for different, but similar, reasons. While the article does favor lowering the drinking age, it also shines light on the opposing viewpoint, giving statistics from MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving). One suggestion to the debate is to give young adults a class and then an exam on alcohol; if they pass they get something similar to a drivers license that allows them to drink, and if they break any rules, it gets revoked. This is a great article to use for this debate because while it strongly favors one side, it also gives information to the other side, and it provides a solution that could work for both sides. The article is relatively up to date, as it was written about 2 years ago and it is very reliable because it is from CBS News’ 60 Minutes, you can also click on a link that will lead you to a video of the segment. []
 * Opening a Debate Over a Lower Drinking Age –Austin Tritto **

The Article establishes the idea for the debate about lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18 in colleges around the country. The article itself does not take a side on whether or not the age should actually be lowered making it unbiased. It goes over specific factors that should be considered when taking the law revision into consideration. For example, the article speaks on the urgency of the revision, and talks about whether or not the revision would be effective. I believe it is an important article to look at due to the fact that before the debate begins, debate topics must be taken into account.

The Debate on Lowering the Drinking Age- Austin Tritto []
In 2010, 60 minutes held a debate on whether or not it would be beneficial to lower the legal drinking age from the now 21, to 18 years of age. The debate connects back to the idea of prohibition when alcohol was deemed to be illegal. When the law was put in place, people found a way to get around it and drinking took place regardless. Similar to that concept, college deans such as the one at Duke University argued that minors under the age of 21 still find a way to drink and sometimes, drink much more violently. As this debate continued, it has been brought up many times that having a drinking age of 21 continues to prove to be “a complete failure”. The article is credible because it recently took place in 2010 on a credible TV production, 60 minutes.

[] -Sarah Wallerstedt

This website provides a Q&A between two doctors discussing lowering the drinking age to 18 or 19 and even permitting people of any age to drink in their own home as long as they are supervised by an adult. One doctor also references the two Prohibition movements (one state wide in the 1850s and the other nationwide in the 1920s) and how they both failed. Additionally, by placing such limits on youngsters, they will be more inclined to rebel and break the law. Furthermore, these propositions have been supported through the examples of other cultures that have used alcohol extensively with few severe consequences.

[] -Sarah Wallerstedt

Legislators are debating whether they should allow the drinking age to be lowered to military personnel under 21 years of age, arguing that if they are old enough to fight in war, they are old enough to drink a beer. However proponents face tough opposition, consisting of MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) and many laws preventing those under 21 to buy and consume alcohol and a strong case that theses laws have cut down on deaths by drunk driving of people ages 18-20.

The next two articles are from Mike Avergun.(Pd.8) The first one is great and full of information and the second one is a fact sheet. []

~ Indiana University professor Ruth C. Engs’ research provides support to the argument of lowering the drinking age. Engs argues that the drinking age should be lowered to “about 18 or 19” so teenagers can learn how to responsibly drink in a mature manner. She also recognizes the fact the prohibition was unsuccessful twice “during National Prohibition in the 1920’s and state prohibition during the 1850s.” People felt the urge to be rebellious and due to this, many social problems became evident. Engs believes that a lower drinking age will lead to safer drinking and less social problems. She supports her argument that under-aged drinkers drink in an unsafe fashion by stating facts such as “22% of all students under 21 compared to 18% over 21 years of age are heavy drinkers.” And “among drinkers only, 32% of under age compared to 24% of legal age are heavy drinkers.” The author additionally provides a rebuttal to the counter-argument that drunk driving related incidents have decreased since the law that made consuming alcohol illegal to anyone under the age of 21 by noting that many other factors, such as education concerning drunk driving, designated driver programs, increased seat belt and air bag usage, safer automobiles, lower speed limits, and free taxi services from drinking establishments, that have all contributed to this decrease. The author is an extremely qualified expert and several arguments are supported with statistical evidence. []

~ This CDC public fact sheet provides numerous statistics and facts about underaged drinking. It can be implied that the author of this web page is using these statistics to note that under age drinking happens. However, there is no clear argument that the author is providing. The author is of credible background because CDC(center for disease control and prevention) is a government agency. Additionally, the credibility of these facts are supported by reference to highly credible sources such as the U.S department of Health and Human services, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the National Research council and Institute of Medicine.

[] Matt Kehr The following article comes from an organization called MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving). The article consists of common questions such as “Why wait until 21” and follows up with a very biased response. Although these responses can contain facts like “More than 25,000 lives have been saved in the U.S. thanks to the 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age”, they give no insight into the other side of the issue. While the organization may have a compelling argument in regards to drunk driving, their other responses consist of generalized and completely biased statements.

This website provides a Q&A between two doctors discussing lowering the drinking age to 18 or 19 and even permitting people of any age to drink in their own home as long as they are supervised by an adult. One doctor also references the two Prohibition movements (one state wide in the 1850s and the other nationwide in the 1920s) and how they both failed. Additionally, by placing such limits on youngsters, they will be more inclined to rebel and break the law. Furthermore, these propositions have been supported through the examples of other cultures that have used alcohol extensively with few severe consequences.

Continue

[] Matt Kehr The following article talks about an organization of college presidents in the US that are fighting to lower the national drinking age to 18. This movement is called the Amethyst Initiative and consists of Presidents from colleges such as Duke, Syracuse, Ohio State, and many more. The general argument that the organization makes is that students and teens are encouraged even more to binge drink dangerously, due to current age restrictions which make them feel as though they are rebels. The organization faces heavy resistance from members of the organization MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), who argue that lowering the drinking age would lead to an increase in the number of fatal car crashes.


 * Maalik Hawkins**

The article that I read didn't have that much bias. It was a interview with a doctor. the doctor did not show that much bias besides the point that we all knew his proposal. He did not deny any negative facts about alcohol, but at the same time gave positive effects of it. the only thing he really did was provide valid evidence and reasoning for the age being lowered to 18 or 19.

http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/YouthIssues/1053520190.html


 * Diante Hill **

@http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-18560_162-4813571.html

The higher drinking age is forcing legal adults into drinking in secret or binge drinking in fear of not being knowing when they will be able to drink again. The uncertainty also creates a rebellious label that pushes teens into binge drinking which can create alcoholism and drinking related deaths. With the uncertainty teens whose parents could teach moderation if the age was lowered slightly, and adults 18-20 who are old enough to fight and die for the country amongst other things, are pushed into uncertain, shady, and unmanageable situations for drinking.