What should the American Drinking Age Be?

An ongoing debate in the United States of America consists of what the legal drinking age should be. The question is should the legal drinking age be lowered? The officially permitted age as of now is twenty-one years old. There are many reasons why the drinking age should be changed, and also many reasons why drinking age should remain the same. Americans can vote for our country's president at age eighteen, can go to war at age eighteen, but yet cannot consume alcohol at age eighteen. Alcohol also causes more death than any other substance. Those are just a few things to take into effect when considering the legal drinking age. There are three different viewpoints to take into consideration: drinking age should be lowered, drinking age should stay the same, and any other perspective a person may have, such as the age being risen. The personnel being researched consists of a wide variety including a Health Science professor, Senators, a doctor, and persons involved with public safety.

Map of the world showing the legal age for purchas...

mugshot taken of Elizabeth Short "The Black Dahlia...

Miss America 2006 Jennifer Berry (shown left), a n...

Drinking age is an uneasy topic. Some consider the view that the age of alcohol consumption should be decreased. The alcohol education and awareness classes are increasing, which is making teenagers much more conscious about the true consequences of alcohol. Ruth C. Engs of Indiana University insists, "The decrease in drinking and driving problems is not only because of the raising of the drinking age, but also because of designative driver programs, educational programs concerning drunk driving, lower speed limits, safer automobiles, etc" (Engs, 1) Also, according to the same article by Engs, teens tend to see drinking as a rebellion against society. They see alcohol as a "forbidden fruit," and "badge of rebellion against authority," and as a symbol of "adulthood." This solution is almost like a reverse psychology method. Being...