Lower Drinking Age to 18 edited first post to state my argument

[Leo1103]

I think you can argue that it should be lowered because a lot of teens, at least in my area, do things just to be "cool". So lowering the drinking age making it more legal for some HS kids might take that cool factor away.

I did this debate in a class a while back, I'll see if I can find my paperwork

that could work, however it could just make things worse. It varies person to person, for example when I was under 21 I would get get blackout drunk along with almost everyone I knew every weekend. I mean half the fun of drinking underage is the "ooh its illegal" factor. When I turned 21 yeah sure I still drank but it seemed as drinking had lost a lot of its appeal to me, getting drunk seemed more of a chore than fun. Now don't get me wrong I still love to drink but my heavy drinking nights are a lot less common now. I much rather prefer going out having a beer or two having fun and calling it a night. But that's my case, I know plenty of people that once they turned 21 they began to drink a lot more.

[Tarball]

I didnt read through all of the comments but wanted to chime in just for the OP.

I did a project on the same topic in debate class when I was in High School. I had pretty much the same points that you have. For the purposes of debate you want to stick to FACTS and statistics and also have some referenced sources. I got a low "D" if I remember correctly because my side of the argument was opinion based without supporting facts - even facts that support your opinion are fine. For example:

Reference how many US citizen age 18-20 died in the military in a span of x years and point to a data source for reference to support your statement that 18year olds can fight in the military.

The key to getting the grade in debate class is really supporting fact based information and siting refences properly to those sources.

With that said, I no longer support your side of the debate. Mostly because I am no longer 18 and I have years of experience to understand the need. IMO now, 21 is too young.

[n8ball2013]

Please don't lock this thread lol, I'm honestly getting some good info. Keep it cool guys, I'm debating in class not trying to start a war

Btw I would agree with Nate and Tyler on that age usually does define maturity, but yes maturity comes from experience as well.

I wont lock it. Even with toddler tantrums tyler throwing a fit. He might end up in timeout though.

[TylerParrish]

Are you guys saying that we underage people don't already drink? It wouldn't change anything, we're still gonna drink whether it's legal or illegal. Although I do agree, there's just some of us that shouldn't be able to drink, but some, I feel myself being one, can handle it and the responsibility that goes along with it.....besides, it's not like 21 is that big of a change from 18. Responsibility and age don't exactly go hand-in-hand with some people.

no you idiot. we know that people drink underage. we have all done it in th epast im sure. Its just much more difficult to do so if the legal drinking age stays the same. You know how I know you're immature and are one that shouldnt be allowed to drink? you think you are better than other teenagers and you dont think that there is a big change in a person from 18 to 21.

There isn't, what changes a person between 18 and 21? Unless they experience something life changing, not a god damn thing is all that different. My ex's mom drinks a good 1/5th a day and can't take the time to tend to her epileptic daughter, does her age make her a responsible adult or parent? Fuck no it doesn't. Because she feels she has the right to her drinks over everything fucking else. And don't tell me my maturity level, you don't know a god damn thing about me. Maturity doesn't always come from age.

you're right. You cant tell a thing abotu a person by the why they type. Did using the word fuck make you feel cool?

No, it's simply the way I talk in real life and over the internet, but seriously, there's both ups and downs to lowering the drinking age. I feel if I can be considered an adult and go die for my country, I should be able to have a drink, doesn't mean I should be pissed face drunk all the time, just like to relax along with anyone else.

[Leo1103]

Are you guys saying that we underage people don't already drink? It wouldn't change anything, we're still gonna drink whether it's legal or illegal. Although I do agree, there's just some of us that shouldn't be able to drink, but some, I feel myself being one, can handle it and the responsibility that goes along with it.....besides, it's not like 21 is that big of a change from 18. Responsibility and age don't exactly go hand-in-hand with some people.

no you idiot. we know that people drink underage. we have all done it in th epast im sure. Its just much more difficult to do so if the legal drinking age stays the same. You know how I know you're immature and are one that shouldnt be allowed to drink? you think you are better than other teenagers and you dont think that there is a big change in a person from 18 to 21.

There isn't, what changes a person between 18 and 21? Unless they experience something life changing, not a god damn thing is all that different. My ex's mom drinks a good 1/5th a day and can't take the time to tend to her epileptic daughter, does her age make her a responsible adult or parent? Fuck no it doesn't. Because she feels she has the right to her drinks over everything fucking else. And don't tell me my maturity level, you don't know a god damn thing about me. Maturity doesn't always come from age.

You'd be surprised how much your views on everything can change, 3 years is a lot of time though it might not seem like it. And I agree maturity does not come with age, but in those 3 years I can almost guarantee you will learn a lot of life lessons from other peoples mistakes.

[TylerParrish]

Are you guys saying that we underage people don't already drink? It wouldn't change anything, we're still gonna drink whether it's legal or illegal. Although I do agree, there's just some of us that shouldn't be able to drink, but some, I feel myself being one, can handle it and the responsibility that goes along with it.....besides, it's not like 21 is that big of a change from 18. Responsibility and age don't exactly go hand-in-hand with some people.

no you idiot. we know that people drink underage. we have all done it in th epast im sure. Its just much more difficult to do so if the legal drinking age stays the same. You know how I know you're immature and are one that shouldnt be allowed to drink? you think you are better than other teenagers and you dont think that there is a big change in a person from 18 to 21.

There isn't, what changes a person between 18 and 21? Unless they experience something life changing, not a god damn thing is all that different. My ex's mom drinks a good 1/5th a day and can't take the time to tend to her epileptic daughter, does her age make her a responsible adult or parent? Fuck no it doesn't. Because she feels she has the right to her drinks over everything fucking else. And don't tell me my maturity level, you don't know a god damn thing about me. Maturity doesn't always come from age.

You'd be surprised how much your views on everything can change, 3 years is a lot of time though it might not seem like it. And I agree maturity does not come with age, but in those 3 years I can almost guarantee you will learn a lot of life lessons from other peoples mistakes.

Maybe so, but from the adults I'm normally around, they aren't much different than my immature teenage friends, maybe it's just the adults I know....

[HunterJohnson]

I didnt read through all of the comments but wanted to chime in just for the OP.

I did a project on the same topic in debate class when I was in High School. I had pretty much the same points that you have. For the purposes of debate you want to stick to FACTS and statistics and also have some referenced sources. I got a low "D" if I remember correctly because my side of the argument was opinion based without supporting facts - even facts that support your opinion are fine. For example:

Reference how many US citizen age 18-20 died in the military in a span of x years and point to a data source for reference to support your statement that 18year olds can fight in the military.

The key to getting the grade in debate class is really supporting fact based information and siting refences properly to those sources.

With that said, I no longer support your side of the debate. Mostly because I am no longer 18 and I have years of experience to understand the need. IMO now, 21 is too young.

Thanks for the advice. I'll be pulling facts from the DMV hopefully 1970's DUI arrest to today's DUI arrest.

And comparing them to other countries with the same population.

Hopefully harvard has something researched aswell

[n8ball2013]

so you're basing it off of adults that hang around teenagers?

[TylerParrish]

so you're basing it off of adults that hang around teenagers?

My parents, their friends, basically the adults I have no chance avoiding. They have more child like problems than I do. Not saying it's all adults though. Just the ones that apparently can't seem to grow up.

[dtleonard26]

dont know if this has been said but you can smoke cigs at 18 and not drink

just throwing that out there