Underage Drinking on College Campuses: The Case for Reform
This essay examines the problem of underage drinking on college campuses, arguing that overly strict alcohol laws inadvertently foster a dangerous culture of binge drinking by pushing the activity underground. Drawing on statistics about alcohol-related student deaths, injuries, and sexual assaults, the paper contends that criminalizing alcohol consumption for students aged 18–20 creates an atmosphere of rebellion rather than responsibility. The essay proposes that lowering the legal drinking age to 18—consistent with the age at which citizens can vote and enlist in the military—would promote a culture of moderation and reduce the harms associated with secretive, unsupervised drinking on college campuses.
- The Underground Culture of Campus Drinking: Strict laws push student drinking into dangerous secrecy
- The Consequences of Prohibition-Style Policies: Deaths, injuries, and assaults linked to underground drinking
- The Case for Lowering the Drinking Age: Decriminalization promotes moderation and responsibility
- Conclusion: Responsibility Over Restriction: Respecting student rights reduces risky drinking behavior
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What makes this paper effective
- The essay opens with a clearly stated paradox — universities want to respect student autonomy while also enforcing the law — which immediately frames the tension the argument will resolve.
- The use of concrete statistics (1,800 deaths, 600,000 injuries, 100,000 sexual assaults annually) grounds the argument in real-world consequences rather than abstract reasoning alone.
- The analogy linking the voting age and military service age to alcohol purchasing rights is a rhetorically effective and widely recognized argument that strengthens the policy proposal.
Key academic technique demonstrated
This paper demonstrates problem-solution argumentation: it identifies a specific social problem, explains the root cause (prohibition-style enforcement driving drinking underground), and proposes a concrete policy remedy (lowering the drinking age). Each body paragraph advances one stage of this structure, keeping the argument focused and easy to follow.
Structure breakdown
The essay is organized into four clear sections: an introduction presenting the central paradox and thesis; a second paragraph detailing the harms caused by underground drinking culture; a third paragraph making the affirmative case for decriminalization and responsible drinking norms; and a conclusion that synthesizes the argument and reinforces the voting/military analogy. Two sources are cited throughout in APA format to support key claims.
The Underground Culture of Campus Drinking
Underage drinking on college campuses is a controversial problem because, on the one hand, universities want to provide students with the kind of independent living and respect they feel they deserve; on the other hand, universities must take care to ensure that students living in campus dormitories respect the law and do not engage in activity that could be harmful to their health or safety. The problem is that many students who might like to drink alcoholic beverages regularly but in moderation are compelled to hide their drinking because of underage drinking laws. By driving the activity underground, students transform what should be a moderated activity into a "forbidden" one that can easily become dangerous. Parties where alcoholic drinks are provided tend to encourage binge drinking precisely because of the underground setting in which they take place, normalizing excess rather than restraint (McMurtrie, 2014). Instead of drinking occurring openly, where it is more likely to be conducted in moderation, colleges are experiencing an avalanche of binge drinking that harms both the student body and campus morale.
The Consequences of Prohibition-Style Policies
The main issue with underage drinking is that because it is technically not permitted, students are compelled to drink in private. This leads to an atmosphere and culture of rebellion and irresponsibility. McMurtrie (2014) points out that because of this atmosphere, "more than 1,800 students die every year of alcohol-related causes. An additional 600,000 are injured while drunk, and nearly 100,000 become victims of alcohol-influenced sexual assaults." The solution is not to crack down harder on drinking, because stricter enforcement is precisely what has driven the behavior underground in the first place. The solution, instead, is to respect students' desire to drink and to promote responsible alcohol consumption. To this end, the legal age for purchasing alcohol should be lowered to 18 — the same age at which people can vote and enlist in the military. If individuals at 18 are deemed responsible enough to make decisions about the fate of the country or to put their lives on the line for it, they should be considered responsible enough to purchase and consume alcohol.
Conclusion: Responsibility Over Restriction
The problem of underage drinking and binge drinking on college campuses can be alleviated by addressing the environment and culture created by overly stringent alcohol laws, which drive students to engage in the practice in ways and places where there is no moderation, no emphasis on responsibility, and no expectation of healthy behavior. Students react to excessively strict laws by rebelling against a culture that treats them as children. If colleges and states were to respect a student's right to drink — given that the same student can vote and serve in the military — students would be less likely to engage in risky behavior when it comes to alcohol consumption. As a result, campuses would become safer places in the long run.
References
McMurtrie, B. (2014). Why colleges haven't stopped binge drinking. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/15/us/why-colleges-havent-stopped-binge-drinking.html
Throm, A. (2017). Lowering the drinking age to 18 is better than keeping it at 21. Daily Nebraskan. Retrieved from http://www.dailynebraskan.com/opinion/throm-lowering-the-drinking-age-to-is-better-than-keeping/article_a28eef04-983b-11e7-9da0-8fbea1f03e90.html
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