If you’re old enough to fight, vote and marry at 18, how come you’re too young to drink?
Dan Brawner
October 16, 2007
When God threw Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden for partaking of the forbidden fruit, he wasn’t angry. It was just his way of letting them know they were finally old enough to drink. And to do the other reckless things adults do.
On November 6, voters in Iowa City will get the chance to ban anybody younger than 21 from hanging out in bars after 10 p.m. Administrators at the University of Iowa hope this ordinance would discourage binge drinking and make it easier for students to attend classes that start before noon.
According to a recent Harvard study, nearly 70 percent of University of Iowa students report binge drinking, as compared with 46 percent nationwide. This statistic speaks highly for the honesty of U of I students. But if they are drinking more these days, you can understand why. Liquor licenses in downtown Iowa City increase from 17 in 1981 to 50 today. The Des Moines Register reports that underage U of I drinking adds up to over $2 million annually.
The ordinance is a huge issue in Iowa City. Posters and yard signs appear all over. The prospect of being deprived of late night underage drinking is evidently more serious than, say, being sent to the war in Iraq.
Which brings us to another critical issue. If you’re old enough to fight for your country, how come you’re not old enough to have a beer?
This often-repeated question, spoken in solemn, patriotic tones, is a mantra of 18-year-olds everywhere – a question which pretty much contains its own answer. I mean, anybody who equates going to war with drinking beer, probably should not be doing either one. But at least soldiers have adult supervision.
To some the question is not why can’t minors drink but how come these individuals, already intoxicated with hormones and bored out of their skulls, are legally permitted to vote, drive cars, marry and purchase firearms?
And what is so magical about the age of 21? Does everyone reaching that age undergo a physical and mental transformation? Shouldn’t the legal age be pushed back to, let’s say, 36? But life is not about playing it safe. That’s why God let Adam and Eve start off on their own at the very point in their lives when they started making bad decisions.
On November 6, voters in Iowa City will get the chance to ban anybody younger than 21 from hanging out in bars after 10 p.m. Administrators at the University of Iowa hope this ordinance would discourage binge drinking and make it easier for students to attend classes that start before noon.
According to a recent Harvard study, nearly 70 percent of University of Iowa students report binge drinking, as compared with 46 percent nationwide. This statistic speaks highly for the honesty of U of I students. But if they are drinking more these days, you can understand why. Liquor licenses in downtown Iowa City increase from 17 in 1981 to 50 today. The Des Moines Register reports that underage U of I drinking adds up to over $2 million annually.
The ordinance is a huge issue in Iowa City. Posters and yard signs appear all over. The prospect of being deprived of late night underage drinking is evidently more serious than, say, being sent to the war in Iraq.
Which brings us to another critical issue. If you’re old enough to fight for your country, how come you’re not old enough to have a beer?
This often-repeated question, spoken in solemn, patriotic tones, is a mantra of 18-year-olds everywhere – a question which pretty much contains its own answer. I mean, anybody who equates going to war with drinking beer, probably should not be doing either one. But at least soldiers have adult supervision.
To some the question is not why can’t minors drink but how come these individuals, already intoxicated with hormones and bored out of their skulls, are legally permitted to vote, drive cars, marry and purchase firearms?
And what is so magical about the age of 21? Does everyone reaching that age undergo a physical and mental transformation? Shouldn’t the legal age be pushed back to, let’s say, 36? But life is not about playing it safe. That’s why God let Adam and Eve start off on their own at the very point in their lives when they started making bad decisions.