On Thursday, October 13, 2022, Saint Anselm students gathered in the LLC Classroom to work towards finding common ground on whether or not the drinking age in the United States should be lowered.
The second event in the “Finding A Common Ground” series of the school year, moderated by Kevin B. Harrington Student Ambassador Program Chair Maeve McAllister ‘23, gave students the opportunity to gather and discuss their thoughts on the drinking age.
This common ground event was unique in that there was a universal consensus students felt the drinking age should in fact be lowered to eighteen. Students offered a variety of explanations as to why they felt this way. One central theme throughout the conversation was that anyone could vote, enlist in the U.S. military, be prosecuted as an adult, and live on their own at eighteen years of age, and yet these same people cannot legally drink alcoholic beverages until they are twenty-one years old. One student remarked, “At eighteen, I can be shot at, but I can’t drink that doesn't make sense to me.”
Despite strong feelings about lowering the drinking age, students did not ignore the serious problems that could arise from lowering the drinking age. Education, stigmatization, and open conversation were all proposed as potential ways to mitigate any negative consequences of lowering the drinking age. “Alcoholism, DUIs, and alcohol abuse already exist in our country, and these precautions are all things that would help society as it exists currently,” stated a student. Overall, students highlighted that education is essential when it comes to alcohol and should be a necessary implementation regardless of the drinking age. Students asserted that the drinking age being set to twenty-one has not stopped teen drinking, instead potentially leading to underage binge drinking in private less controlled environments, leading to more health and life-endangering behavior by teens.
When discussing the timeline in which these changes would occur, one student stated that it was not that long ago that the drinking age changed to twenty-one. Prior to the enactment of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, the legal drinking age varied from state to state. Further, students concluded that it may not be as difficult as it seems to lower the drinking age to eighteen.
Of all the arguments as to why the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen, one of the most prevalent in the conversation was the social barrier that exists due to the drinking age. Students expressed how being younger for their grades has impacted their college experience. Lowering the drinking age would eliminate some of these disparities between college students such as not being able to participate in events and activities with peers due to age.
The event was a success in opening up the conversation between students about the legal drinking age.