In the society that we live in today there are laws and restrictions that we have to abide by to maintain order and safety. The Government set age restrictions for many things such as driving, voting, drinking, gambling, films/games, marriage, sex and work but the question that many people ask is why do we need them and are they really necessary? There are positives and negatives to age restrictions as they are there to keep you safe however they control our actions we do in life and when we do them. However, there are many levels of maturity, whether these are right or wrong is a personal opinion. There is no possible way to measure maturity when there are so many contradictions within the law.
There is a positive side to the argument as the law enforces these age restrictions to keep members of society safe and therefore recommend a sensible age as to when people are able to be part of such activities. For example, in the case of driving, the age one must be to take the test to achieve a license is seventeen. This is enforced due to the fact that people must be sensible and mature to drive a car to therefore not impair themselves or anyone else. The Government aim to protect society from the dangers that come with drinking alcohol due to the serious risks concerned with drinking excessively. However, most people are well aware of these dangers; alcohol is a drug and can become a serious addiction. It is illegal to sell alcohol to a person under the age of eighteen and also illegal to buy alcohol for someone who is under eighteen. It is a personal choice whether a person wants to drink or not. Although there is a drinking law in place not many people choose to follow it, there are many people that go against the law by drinking ...
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...f something that is less significant like voting? They can fight for their country yet they cannot draw a cross on a piece of paper.
The Government set these age restrictions as that is when they deem people are mature and responsible enough to handle the task in hand. But why should the Government control when we do things, shouldn’t it be a personal choice? Everyone knows the dangers and warnings concerned with such activities, therefore if they do not think they can handle the situation then they should not get involved. Although the Government are just trying to protect society, people should be responsible for themselves. We are expected to act like adults yet we are not treated like them. In many aspects of life we have to make choices as adults yet in so many more we have no choice.
Works Cited
http://www.findlaw.co.uk/law/criminal/yourrights/500373.html
The age of responsibility could not make sense at 18 because of all the rights and responsibilities that are given at age 18 such as financial decisions and college and moving out of the house, but their are still so many things that 18 year olds cannot do such as they still can't rent cars or drink alcohol. “...lowering the legal limit to 18 would only be pushing the drinking problem down to 16-17 year old.” (Wagenaar 17). According to Alexander Wagenaar in Greenblatt’s article lowering the age down to 18 would make drinking a big problem for younger teenagers that are 16 and 17. This could make an even bigger problem in high school because people may say that they are close to the age and they may feel more responsible even though they are not. Therefore, it would not make sense to have 18 be the legal
It may seem harsh to draw the line at 16 without compromise, but we, as Feld points out, do this with many other societal privileges and duties. The draft age is precisely 18, the driving age in most states is precisely 16 and so forth. Is a person more fit to be drunk a week before their 21st birthday than a week after? Drawing one line is the only way to avoid the problems associated with waiver laws that either provide too much discretion that lends itself to discrimination and to provide consistency.
This issue hit home for me because it puts many people at risk for things such as car accidents, binge drinking, alcoholism, depression, suicide, and rape, things no one should ever experience, let alone in middle or high school. These reasons are why the legal age to purchase, and consume alcohol should remain at 21 years of age.
Many adults these days could tell stories from college about all the frat parties they've been to, all their high school house party experiences, and how many times they've been absolutely ¨hammered¨. And during these uncontrolled occasions, there is no adult supervision whatsoever. Furthermore, it is nearly impossible for police authorities to be able to monitor and know what is going on in an individual’s house. Besides, enforcing the drinking age isn’t really a priority for the police anyway. Many of them know it will continue, plus, when they do manage to catch and arrest someone for illegal drinking, it takes a great amount of time and effort for paperwork and processing. (ProCon.org)* And also because most youths view the age limit as arbitrary, which causes them to have a certain disrespect for the law. (Chafetz)* One main reas...
There has been debate on what age should people drink. Many think we should be able to drink at 18 or many people think we should be able to drink at the age 21 or older. Both cases makes some good points of why. There shouldn’t be any debate at all because bottom line the age limit on drinking is fine where it is for many reasons.
... They are mature enough to understand the problems with the law, but that maturity also lets them realize that their freedom is restrained and that they have no power to change these laws.
Even though these are valid points, research shows that reducing the legal age could actually have the opposite effect on the matter. In America, when a person turns eighteen, that person is now considered an adult and is treated like one as well. That person is entrusted with responsibilities such as voting, enlisting in the armed services, opening personal bank accounts and possibly holding public office. If a person can be entrusted with such responsibilities at that particular age, who can say that he/she is not mature enough to drink alcohol?... ...
...y safety, and a deterrent for future goals. The only way to insure health and safety for all is to insist that lawmakers not lower the drinking age to eighteen and keep it at twenty-one.
Drinking under the age of 21 should not be allowed because of the medical reasons behind it. “Brains can be severely damaged by alcohol, especially if the brain is not fully developed” (BigJohny). When you drink under the age of 21, you will get these long-term consequences from doing so. The long-term consequences that could come from drinking under the age of 21 are having brain malfunctions and becoming brain dead. Every time you drink you cause yourself to lose brain cells, without the brain being fully developed you will stop the growth of your brain cells while killing others. The brain is actually never fully developed until the age of 21. “Research indicated that the brain continues to develop until age 21, and young brains can be irreversibly damaged by alcohol” (BigJohny). When you are under the age of 21 and you decide to drink, the growing process of your brain could...
Before the Drinking age was passed many states had a drinking age of 18 or 19. But the main ways the Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) got passed was from the Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Passing this act has saved quite of bit of underage accidents still today. Underage drinking has led to 2.7 million injures and 5000 deaths in the US. So with that being said the government needs to take in to consideration the risk of teens drinking and driving, in which they do with adults. In many articles the all said things around the government needs to make teen’s obey an zero tolerance to driving drunk and raise the consequence if they are caught doing so. Which seatbelt and DUI checkpoints have helped a lot to keep the numbers down of alcohol related incidents.
It is ironic that how some children are able to present themselves more mature than adults. The youth of the generation is becoming more mature and are developing adult skills faster than ever. People are beginning to wonder about the age of adulthood and how it should be determined. This controversy beleaguers around privileges such as drinking, driving, and voting. According to the article What is the Age of Responsibility by Alan Greenblatt, society determines that a person is an adult through customary rites, legal rights, and one’s responsibilities. However, I believe that the best way to adulthood is shown through one’s obligation for their priorities and work.
Legal drinking age varies by many countries. In U.S.A, There has been a lot of debate when it comes to the legal drinking age here in US. When it comes to law. There is always an opinion, some are for it and some are against. When it comes to the legal drinking age being 21 we are totally against it. Many people still say the government should prohibit using alcoholic drinks at the age of 18. Legal adults deserve to be treated as such it is time the arbitrary drinking age of 21 Was lowered to 18, because there is no evidence that the National Minimum Drinking Age Act is effective or protects the people it is intended to protect . The Notional Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed in 1984 in an attempt to decrease the number of drunk driving related accidents. The act threatens to decrease a state’s budget for high way construction and maintenance if it sets its drinking age under 21. According to Cuccoli , “ Keeping the drinking age at such a low age is leading to more cases of binge drinking,” (Cuccoli). Mothers against drunk driving reports that the number of alcohol related fatalities involving a vehicle decreased from 26, 173 to 16, 885 between 1982 and 2005.
For example, if the legal drinking age was lowered to 18 this would allow 18 year olds to go to bars and clubs where they are being watched by bartenders and bouncers to make sure they do not consume to much alcohol. Allowing 18 year olds to go to bars and clubs puts them in a supervised place where the amount they can consume is regulated, unlike if they were drinking at a house party. “Prohibiting this age group from drinking in bars, restaurants, and other licensed locations causes them to drink in unsupervised places such as fraternity houses or house parties where they may be more prone to binge drinking and other unsafe behavior” (ProCon.org). MLDA or Minimum Legal Drinking Age of 21 was set to regulate the age at which alcohol is consumed at. Despite the MLDA being set at the age of 21, it is quite ineffective due to the fact the most teens will consume alcohol anyways. If we were to lower the drinking age to 18, the thrill and sense of law breaking to drink alcohol would diminish. “Normalizing alcohol consumption as something done responsibly in moderation will make drinking alcohol less of a taboo for young adults entering college and the workforce”
Many people believe that the drinking age of 21 protects teenagers from harming themselves but the age restriction is only causing more harm for them.
I suppose I believed some sort of freedom would be granted to me just because I turned another year older, however that was not the case. I did not gain any more freedom. By law I am legally an adult, but to my parents and society I am still just a kid. The more I think about it the more I realize I still am just a child; I just want to deny it most of the time. On the other hand, people set a precedent that children are ignorant and naïve. Therefore, opportunities to prove otherwise are nonexistent. A controversial topic pertaining age could be the legal drinking age. People who are for lowering the age limit to 18 have the argument, adults who are 18 can risk their lives at war in the military yet that can’t have a drink. Verses, the people who say 18 year olds are still not fully developed into making decisions, let alone under the influence. I can see both sides argument and agree with both, but I lean toward if people are willing to risk their lives at war they should be able to have a beer. I believe that age limits and alters people’s views on them. Growing up is about messing up with everything and learning from those mistakes, and people should not judge or limit others possibilities because they forget that they were once young