Colleges Mull Lowering Boozer Age To 18.

[nightflight]

That is fucking bullshit.

Of course you would think that.

[Eyelids]

Oh hey let's create a warrior class that is deemed superior by the state! See how that works out...

That's some hardcore PRoC or NK shit.

[linda22003]

[SIZE="3 My daughter starts college this week in a DRY county. The town where I live has the closest liquor store - kids are on that road constantly.[/SIZE]

I went to prep school in a dry TOWN. You should have seen the look on my father's face when he was told at the hotel in town that he could not get his customary Manhattan before dinner. :eek:

[Phillygirl]

Oh hey let's create a warrior class that is deemed superior by the state! See how that works out...

That's some hardcore PRoC or NK shit.

Yeah, wouldn't want those that are willing to die for their country have a beer or something.

[noonwitch]

I'm still constantly amazed that neither I nor any of my friends died while in college. The binge drinking was out of control. My freshman year, while the drinking age was 21, the only rule against drinking on campus was no kegs. Silly rule, and of course we broke that as well. When drinking was banned the following year, it simply meant that more kids got fake id's to get into the bars, and more kids left campus to drink, thereby increasing the probability that they would be victims of some crime, or commit other crimes themselves.

I am surprised about the same thing with me and my college friends. I was in college from 1982-86 at a second-tier state university (Western Michigan), and it was a wild time. It was very easy to get hold of alcohol, and our dorms had a technical rule against it that was not enforced unless the situation was out of hand. I was in a sorority some of that time, and we drank a lot. I remember going to the house for a weekend a couple of weeks before school started in the fall, to get the house ready for fall rush. One of the sisters who was over 21 took us all to the liquor store to stock up on Friday, and I gave her my money and had her buy me 2 fifths of Southern Comfort. Both bottles were empty by Sunday morning-I shared with others, but, still, that was a lot of booze, and other people had bought beer, wine and liquor, too. That was just one weekend.

There were probably a couple of times when either me or one of my friends probably should have had our stomachs pumped. A couple of my friends experienced date rape, although they didn't think of it that way at the time (nor did I). It was just what happened when you drank too much with the wrong guy. I had a couple of close calls, but my friends and I usually had a buddy system going at parties.

I went to visit my sister at MSU a couple of years after I graduated, and I was amazed at the fact that they took it to even greater depths there. But then again, Michigan State is one of the biggest party schools there is. Anyone who's kids are going there should beware.

[Zathras]

That is fucking bullshit.

Gee, what a surprise. Blinky thinks the truth is BS.

[Phillygirl]

I am surprised about the same thing with me and my college friends. I was in college from 1982-86 at a second-tier state university (Western Michigan), and it was a wild time. It was very easy to get hold of alcohol, and our dorms had a technical rule against it that was not enforced unless the situation was out of hand. I was in a sorority some of that time, and we drank a lot. I remember going to the house for a weekend a couple of weeks before school started in the fall, to get the house ready for fall rush. One of the sisters who was over 21 took us all to the liquor store to stock up on Friday, and I gave her my money and had her buy me 2 fifths of Southern Comfort. Both bottles were empty by Sunday morning-I shared with others, but, still, that was a lot of booze, and other people had bought beer, wine and liquor, too. That was just one weekend.

There were probably a couple of times when either me or one of my friends probably should have had our stomachs pumped. A couple of my friends experienced date rape, although they didn't think of it that way at the time (nor did I). It was just what happened when you drank too much with the wrong guy. I had a couple of close calls, but my friends and I usually had a buddy system going at parties.

I went to visit my sister at MSU a couple of years after I graduated, and I was amazed at the fact that they took it to even greater depths there. But then again, Michigan State is one of the biggest party schools there is. Anyone who's kids are going there should beware.

We would have keg races freshman year...8 girls, 8 guys...2 quarter kegs. Which keg kicked first. And then we went to the bar. It was bad. I think lowering the age would only encourage the binge drinking at a younger age.

But I do believe, by and large, that those in the military are a bit more responsible (hey...they're 18 and in the military, not at Drunken U for 4 years of partying). And I do think in light of the responsibility and obligation that we put on them, that they deserve some perks. I also think that the consequences from their CO for out of control behavior is a whole lot harsher than anything an RA could think up.

[Rebel Yell]

I got so drunk in Palma, Spain that I went blind. I had always heard of "Blind Drunk", but thought it was an expression. I threw up while "being friendly" with a female from the boat. Don't worry, she was on top.:D We finished up and when I got up, all i could see was a blur. It was like looking through really thick glass. She had to lead me by hand back to the liberty bus. Good times, good times.

[Gingersnap]

It seems like we really have two questions here: should the legal age be dropped and is the college-crowd drinking culture out of hand?

The first and last time I got blind drunk was at college (no surprise there) and it put me off heavy drinking for quite a while. Looking back on it, drinking was not as big a deal for my crowd as it was for a lot of other students. That said, Mr. Snaps is in Higher Ed and drinking does seem to be getting a lot worse - people are drinking more often, they are bypassing beer for the hard stuff, and drinking to the point of black out is common. :(

[biccat]

I went to visit my sister at MSU a couple of years after I graduated, and I was amazed at the fact that they took it to even greater depths there. But then again, Michigan State is one of the biggest party schools there is. Anyone who's kids are going there should beware.

I don't know if it is one of the biggest party schools, but there is a lot of drinking that goes on. I visited a friend's frat, and we filled up one of the member's room with beer cans (15 of us or so). And I'm not talking about just on the floor either. They had windows that opened over the door, we had to toss the last few in.

The issue is compounded with certain majors (Business) only having classes through Thursday. Big discounts on those nights.

But I think that the amount of drinking increased exponentially when I got to graduate school. The depravity there was far worse than undergrad.