Essay Lowering the Drinking Age to Eighteen - 1340 Words

In 1984 Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole lobbied for all states to raise the legal drinking age from eighteen to twenty-one. The consequence for a state not raising the age was to lose a portion of their federal highway funding. I personally believe that the drinking age being twenty-one is just like when the voting age was twenty-one, if I can go to war and die for my country, then I should be able to go to the bar and buy a beer. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;One of the biggest problems in our society is under age drinking. They tell us how we aren’t allowed to drink, that we aren’t old enough or mature enough to do it, but the more adults talk about it, the more teenagers want to do it. When a kid goes off to college, it’s†¦show more content†¦What they don’t understand is that it takes a long time to get used to dealing with the after effects of a fifteen beer night. So they go out their first night, grab a cup, and start to drink. Sounds like fun until they try to walk home and they can’t remember where their dorm is. So they stumble around for a while, sometimes alone and other times with a group of friends. This goes on for a while until something finally happens. One outcome, the one that all kids think is going to happen, is that they finally find their limit and learn how to be responsible with their drinking while having fun at the same time. Another option is that they end up in jail for the night and then they have to go explain to mommy and daddy why they need an extra $200 this month. The next possible outcome is the one that no kid ever thinks will happen to them, that is when they end up in the hospital getting their stomach pumped because they drank too much. For most kids that is enough to make them never drink that much again, but some kids see it as a challenge, and the next time they go to the hospital it is because someone found them dead on the floor the next morning. My friends and I started to really drink the summer before my senior year. Personally I tried never to drink too much because I was alwaysShow MoreRelatedAccording To â€Å"College Drinking,† Almost Two Out Of Three1388 Words   |  6 PagesAccording to â€Å"College Drinking,† almost two out of three college students engage in binge drinking. Binge drinking is a pattern of drinking that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels to 0.08 g/dL or higher (â€Å"College Drinking†). Many parents, guardians, and psychologists believe that college students binge drink because they think drinking is an integral part of their higher education. Similar to peer pressure, college students drink because the rest of the student body drinks. FurthermoreRead MoreThe Legal Drinking Age Of The United States Essay1385 Words   |  6 Pagesthe night before when they went out drinking. It is a common fact that most teenagers have had a drink of alcohol before their twenty-fir st birthday. Most teenagers drink regularly or in some cases, binge drink. Nobody can prevent underage drinking. When people tell a teenagers they cannot have something, it inclines them to want it even more and teenagers will go to extreme lengths to obtain it. In 1984, Congress passed the law stating the legal drinking age in the United States was twenty-one (Alcoholism)Read MoreLowering The Drinking Age From Twenty857 Words   |  4 PagesAt eighteen years of age a teenager becomes an adult. They can choose to move out of their parents home, vote, marry, joining the military and buy tobacco and lottery tickets, but it isn’t illegal to purchase alcohol. However, in twenty-nine states it is legal to consume alcohol at eighteen, but not to purchase alcohol. Becoming an adult has many responsibilities; therefore, citizens should be able to drink at eighteen. The United States should lower the drinking age from twenty-one to eighteen becauseRead MoreFor Years, The Debate About Deciding A Minimum Legal Drinking1638 Words   |  7 Pagesminimum legal drinking age (MLDA) has plagued the United States. The arguments can include that intoxicated driving accidents will increase if the MLDA was lowered or that the current MLDA is not decreasing drinking among young adults at all. The torn arguments between ages eighteen and twenty-one have not proven one age to be the right answer to the problem of deciding a drinking age, but if the MLDA was lowered to age eighteen, it would be the most beneficial choice because lowering it will benefitRead MoreLowering the Drinking Age1223 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"What we’re doing now to prevent underage drinking isn’t working; it’s time to try something else.† Although many people argue that the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1964, which lowed the drinking age from eighteen to twenty one, was a good idea. David J Hanson a professor in the State University of New York believed that someth ing needs to be done to make the United States a safer place to live. Is it fair that people in the United States can serve in the military, vote in elections, serveRead MorePersuasive Essay On Underage Drinking1291 Words   |  6 PagesUnderage drinking is one of the largest problems that we have in the United States. This is a problem because alcohol is an item that nobody under twenty-one years of age is allowed to purchase or consume. People who are underage are punished by law when they consume or attempt to purchase alcohol illegally. This makes people under twenty-one want alcohol even more. In other countries where the drinking age is lower, there are less problems because it gives parents the push to teach their childrenRead MoreThe Drinking Age Should Be Legal974 Words   |  4 PagesThe Drinking Age For many reasons, the drinking age has been set at twenty-one years old, but has the time come to lower the drinking age? Many argue that the drinking age needs to be lowered back to eighteen for many reasons; however, studies and statistics show that lowering the drinking age is harmful and even deadly. Some people believe that binge drinking can be solved by lowering the drinking age, but lowering the drinking age is not the solution to binge drinking. Many teenagers spend theirRead MoreThe Legal Drinking Age Of The United States1479 Words   |  6 Pages The legal drinking age in the United States has been argued for many decades. The current minimal legal drinking age is twenty-one but some want to lower between eighteen and twenty. The main focus of the research conducted and opinions of people are based on the minimal legal drinking age of eighteen. The research is taken from the 1970s, when the twenty-sixth Amendment was passed in the Constitution (Wagenaar, 206). It was stated that eighteen is the â€Å"age of majority†, so thirty-nine of theRead MoreLowering The Alcohol Drinking Age1602 Words   |  7 Pages Lowering The Alcohol Drinking Age Now a day’s teens that are under the age of twenty-one are out in trouble and drinking. They know that they are not old enough to drink and that is what makes them want to drink even more. Teens drink when they are not suppose to, but they know that when they drink, they must stay out of trouble. Lowering the alcohol drinking age will keep a bunch of teens out of trouble. If teens can stay safe while drinking then they should allow eighteen year olds to drinkRead MoreShould the Legal Drinking Age Be Lowered to Eighteen?1192 Words   |  5 PagesShould the legal alcohol drinking age be lowered to eighteen? At the age of eighteen years old, you are eligible to vote, you can legally purchase cigarettes, you are eligible for the military draft, you are willing to die for this country, you are even able to serve on a jury, and you are titled as an adult at the age of eighteen. Why can’t someone at the age of eighteen not drink alcohol? Who is to say that just because some one is twenty-one years of age means that they are wise enough to drink

Personal Experience Subjects in Which I Have Excelled Essay

The subjects I excel in are math and science. Every since I was adolescent, I have always had a keen sense of numbers. This undoubtedly helped a lot with the variety of science classes that utilize math skills. Science, though, is, without a doubt, the subject I excel in the most, and I have my extraordinary great-grandmother to thank for that. Around when I was eight, I found out my great-grandmother had cancer which was gradually making her health decline. Eventually the cancer had spread to her legs and within a time span of a year, she had become a double amputee. Being so close to my great-grandmother, this hit me hard, but I felt no sorrow because I knew she was a strong woman, and, being naive at that age, I hadnt thought this†¦show more content†¦I found nothing. It wasn’t until one day when I started searching the web for physicians who dealt specifically with pain that I found the career that I still dream of becoming today, an anesthesiologist. I read for hours and watched numerous videos on the types of procedures anesthesiologist performed and the requirements to become an anesthesiologist. In my mind, I knew this sudden dream to become an anesthesiologist was far-fetched, but, in my heart, I believed this was the key to helping my great-grandmother get better. Years later, now older and wiser, I realize the specifics of the career I have chosen and how it won’t benefit my great-grandmother as much as I had hoped it would have. Even so, this life changing event has benefited me in numerous ways. Academically-wise, I have never received a grade lower than a B in any of my science classes throughout my high school career, and I am the president of the peer to peer Science tutoring club. I enjoy tutoring students about the different aspects of science that go unnoticed even though we utilize science everyday in our lives. I occasionally tell them what inspired me to love science so much in hopes that I can influence my fellow p eers to look at science differently. My favorite science subject, specifically, is biology. I have always been intrigued in how things are alive and how the human body canShow MoreRelatedChoosing the Right University632 Words   |  3 PagesI believe choosing the right University is an important decision for me which will influence my future. I have a particular interest in studying Accountancy and it is something I have been looking into at great detail over the past few years. I see myself as a hardworking and determined individual who has an ambition to make a difference in how people see me in society. To enhance this I knew the next step to achieve that ambition was to get into a respectable and illustrious university. ThroughRead MoreAn Era Of Information Technology1645 Words   |  7 Pageshair dryer; I would urge to decode its working process. 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Education in “The Republic” “Discourse on the Arts and Sciences” Free Essays

The role and significance of education with regard to political and social institutions is a subject that has interested political philosophers for millennia. In particular, the views of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, as evidenced in The Republic, and of the pre-Romantic philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau in his Discourse on the Arts and Sciences, present a striking juxtaposition of the two extremes of the ongoing philosophical and political debate over the function and value of education. In this paper, I will argue that Rousseau’s repudiation of education, while imperfect and offering no remedy to the ills it disparages, is superior inasmuch as it comes closer to the truth of things than does Plato’s idealized conceptions. We will write a custom essay sample on Education in â€Å"The Republic† â€Å"Discourse on the Arts and Sciences† or any similar topic only for you Order Now To do so, I will first examine Plato’s interpretation of the role of education and its function in shaping the structure of society and government and in producing good citizens. I will then introduce Rousseau’s view of education and the negative effects of the civilized culture which it produces, and using this view, will attempt to illustrate the naivete and over-idealization of Plato’s notions. Finally, I will attempt to demonstrate that it is Rousseau’s view, rather than Plato’s, that is ultimately more significant in assessing the actual (vs. idealized) merits (or lack thereof, in Rousseau’s case) by which education should be judged with regard to the nurturance of good citizens. For Plato, the question of the role of education arises near the end of Book II (377e), after a discussion of both the necessary and consequent attributes of Socrates’ kallipolis or â€Å"Ideal City. Such a city, Socrates argues, will, before long, have need of both a specialization of labor (in order for the greatest level of diversity and luxury of goods to be achieved) and of the establishment of a class of â€Å"Guardians† to protect the city from its envious neighbors and maintain order within its walls (i. e. , to police and govern the city). This, in turn, leads inexorably to the question of what attributes the Ideal City will require of its Guardians, and how best to foster such attributes. The early, childhood education of the Guardians, Socrates argues, is the key. What, then, asks Socrates, should children be taught, and when? This quickly leads to a discussion of censorship. Socrates cites a number of questionable passages from Homer which cannot, he thinks, be allowed in education, since they represent dishonorable behavior and encourage the fear of death. The dramatic form of much of this poetry is also suspect: it puts unworthy words into the mouths of gods heroes. Socrates suggests that what we would call â€Å"direct quotation† must be strictly limited to morally-elevating speech. Nothing can be permitted that compromises the education of the young Guardians, as it is they who will one day rule and protect the city, and whom the lesser-constituted citizens of the polis will attempt to emulate, assimilating, via the imitative process of mimesis, to the Myth (or â€Å"noble lie†) of the Ideal City in which justice is achieved when everyone assumes their proper role in society. The process of mimesis, is, of course, yet another form of education, in which those of Iron and Bronze natures are â€Å"instructed† and inspired by the superior intelligence and character of the Gold and Silver members of the Guardian class. It is therefore a form of education without which the polis cannot operate. Thus, for Guardian and ordinary citizen alike, the education of the young and the continuing â€Å"instruction† of the citizenry are crucial. In addition to these aspects, Plato also conceives of another function of education, and one which is quite significant in its relation to Rousseau’s views. For Plato, education and ethics are interdependent. To be ethical, in turn, requires a twofold movement: movement away from immersion in concrete affairs to thinking and vision of unchanging order and structures (such as justice) and then movement back from dialectic to participation and re-attachment in worldly affairs. It is a temptation to become an abstract scholar. But the vision of the good is the vision of what is good for oneself and the city — of the common good. If one does not return to help his fellow human beings, he becomes selfish and in time will be less able to see what is good, what is best. An unselfish devotion to the good requires an unselfish devotion to the realization of this good in human affairs. Just as the purpose of understanding order and limits in one’s own life is to bring about order and restraint in one’s own character and desires, the understanding of justice requires application in the public sphere (through education). A man who forgets the polis is like a man who forgets he has a body. Plato thus advocates educating both the body and the city (for one needs both), not turning one’s back on them. If education is, for Plato, the means by which man comes to fully realize (through society) his potential as a human being and by which society as a whole is in turn elevated, for Rousseau it is quite the opposite. Education, argues Rousseau, does not elevate the souls of men but rather corrodes them. The noble mimesis which lies at the heart of education in Plato’s kallipolis is for Rousseau merely a slavish imitation of the tired ideas of antiquity. The ill effects of this imitation are manifold. Firstly, argues Rousseau, when we devote ourselves to the learning of old ideas, we stifle our own creativity and originality. Where is there room for original thought, when, in our incessant efforts to impress one another with our erudition, we are constantly spouting the ideas of others? In a world devoid of originality, the mark of greatness, intelligence, and virtue is reduced to nothing more than our ability to please others by reciting the wisdom of the past. This emphasis on originality is in marked contrast with Plato, who finds no value in originality, deeming it antithetical to a polis otherwise unified by shared Myths of the Ideal City and of Metals. Rousseau rejects this â€Å"unity†, rightly denouncing it as a form of slavery , in which humanity’s inherent capacity for spontaneous, original self-expression is replaced with the yoking. of the mind and the will to the ideas of others, who are often long dead. In addition to suppressing the innate human need for originality, education (and the appetite for â€Å"culture† and â€Å"sophistication† that it engenders) causes us to conceal ourselves, to mask our true natures, desires, and emotions. We become artificial and shallow, using our social amenities and our knowledge of literature, etc. , to present a pleasing but deceptive face to the world, a notion quite at odds with the ideas of Plato. We assume, in Rousseau’s words, â€Å"the appearance of all virtues, without being in possession of one of them. Finally, argues Rousseau, rather than strengthening our minds and bodies and (a critical point) moving us towards that which is ethical, as Plato contends, education and civilization effeminate and weaken us physically and (perhaps most significantly) mentally, and cause us, in this weakness, to stoop to every manner of depravity and injustice against one another. â€Å"External ornaments,† writes Rousseau, â€Å"are no less foreign to virtue, which is the strength and activity of the mind. The honest man is an athlete, who loves to wrestle stark naked; he scorns all those vile trappings, which prevent the exertion of his strength, and were, for the most part, invented only to conceal some deformity. † Virtue, as opposed to Plato’s conception, is an action, and results not from the imitation inherent in mimesis, but rather in the activity — in the exercise — of the body, mind and soul. Education, however, demands imitation, demands a modeling upon what has been successful. How, then, do we rightly assess the merits of education with regard to its it molding of the public character — in its ability to produce â€Å"good† citizens. The answer to this hinges, I submit, on how we choose to define the â€Å"good† citizen. Clearly, if obedience (or â€Å"assimilation to a political ideology†, or perhaps â€Å"voluntary servitude†) is the hallmark of the good citizen, then we must regard Plato’s disposition towards education as the proper one. However, obedience, despite its obvious centrality to the smooth operation of society (as we would have social chaos were it completely absent), has its useful limits. Over-assimilation to a political idea or â€Å"blueprint† is every bit as dangerous — indeed, far more so — as the utter under-assimilation of anarchy. For those inclined to dispute this, I would urge them to review the history of Nazi Germany as perhaps the definitive example of what sad, awful spectacles of injustice we humans are capable of when we trade in our mental and spiritual autonomy for the convenient apathy and faceless anonymity of the political ideal. Furthermore, if , as Rousseau contends, our civilization is such that, â€Å"Sincere friendship, real esteem, and perfect confidence [in each other] are banished from among men,† what is the quality of the society for which education — any modern education — purports to prepares us? When, â€Å"Jealousy, suspicion, fear coldness, reserve, hate, and fraud lie constantly concealed under †¦ [a] uniform and deceitful veil of politeness,† what is left to us to educate citizens for, other than the pleasure we seem to derive in pedantic displays of hoary knowledge? If we remove the civility from â€Å"civilization†, what remains to us that any education will remedy? How to cite Education in â€Å"The Republic† â€Å"Discourse on the Arts and Sciences†, Papers