Arguments For The Legal Drinking Age

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Dr. Harris 2/12/07 English 132 Age of Maturity Audience: This essay is directed towards public officials who agree that the legal drinking age should be 21. Purpose: This essay is to inform people about the arguments for the legal drinking age being changed from 21 to 18. Teenagers are considered adults when they reach the age of eighteen. If so, then how come eighteen year olds are not legally able to drink an alcoholic beverage? The law states that a person must be twenty-one years of age to legally consume alcohol. I ask the questions “Why the age of twenty-one?”, “Why not the age of eighteen?” At the age of eighteen a person is considered an adult in many aspects. The age of eighteen comes with many…show more content…
has such a problem with alcoholism is because the legal age of drinking is twenty-one. According to the newspaper article Should the Legal Drinking Age Be Lowered, written by Lindsay Bolles states the idea of the reactance theory. “The reactance theory says that when people feel their freedom is somehow threatened, they are motivated to indulge in the threatened behavior just to prove that their free will is not compromised.” (Bolles) When the legal age of drinking is twenty-one some people feel that this goes against their free will and think that they should have the right to choose to drink or not. Some people may see drinking alcohol before the age of twenty one as a way of rebellion or a way of showing adulthood and maturity. These views that some people have are the reasons why underage people drink as much and as often as they do. If the drinking age was eighteen I do not believe that there would be as much underage drinking and nearly so much excessive…show more content…
Throughout this essay I have given you some of the reason’s why it should be lowered and answered some of the questions to those who argue against it. Like I said in the beginning, what it all comes down to is whether the reasons for the legal drinking age being lowered to eighteen out weigh the reasons for it being twenty-one. I believe that the reasons for the legal age being lowered do outweigh the reasons for it to stay at twenty-one. Works Cited Bolles, Lindsay. (Sept 29, 2004). Should the Legal Drinking Age Be Lowered? Pro. The Roanake Times, p8. Retrieved Feb 12, 2007, from Thomson Gale database. El Bayadi, Christina. (Dec 21, 2004). High Drinking Age Just Glamorizes Alcohol. The Post-Standard, pA11. Retrieved Feb 12, 2007, from Thomson Gale

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