When Do We Mature and the Drinking Age

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At exactly what age does a person become mature? It has been said many times that girls mature faster than boys? However, not always is that the truth. More and more these days’ boys are getting jobs before they even turn sixteen. Girls on the other hand typically do not get one until they are at least sixteen and most wait until college. Another example is a high school junior that has met all his criteria and would like to graduate early, at the age of seventeen, and go off to college. If he is allowed to make that decision, would you consider that mature since it is before the legal age of eighteen? Now, you have to consider the fact that he is working on a degree in whatever he desires, that most fifteen year olds have not even though about. In my eyes that is mature. But, he can not drink legally until he turns twenty-one. By then, he could be graduated and working in the field of his dreams. The legal age to drink seems to be unfair. Should the national drinking age be lowered to eighteen? Is the brain capable of handling alcohol at the age of eighteen? Dr. Simon Rowley says “young men's brains do not fully mature until they are in their early 20s.” He goes on to say that anything that distracts the brain development process “may adversely affect brain function later on” (Scoop). There are many important parts to the brain and alcohol can easily affect these parts and may possibly prevent your brain from ever growing correctly. Some people may think drinking is fun, but is it really worth the risk of damaging a very important part of your body for some temporary fun? In most cases, it is not. Could a younger drinking age create a future problem? It very well could. Lowering the drinking age gi... ... middle of paper ... ... to be sneaky and get away with something you can’t legally get away with back at home. Overall, no one will be satisfied regardless of the drinking age. There will always be the types of people that are looking for rules to break. Since not all eighteen year olds are in college, some are still in high school, then changing the drinking age could pose a problem in high school not just college and make this issue even bigger and possibly even more deadlier. Studies have shown that with the drinking age the way it is, it has decreased the amount of traffic fatalities. It may be cool to lower the age, but if it is working out better the way it is now, why change it? It gives teenagers three more years to mature and anticipate the day they turn twenty one! The national drinking age of twenty one may actually be teaching everyone a good responsibility.

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