By Wylliam Smith
College is a time of freedom. Young adults leave their parents’ homes and go off to school to begin their lives. College comes with many experiences, one of which is usually increased exposure to alcohol.
Of course, alcohol is illegal for people in the United States if they are under the age of 21. But alas, the threat of the law does not stop students from indulging themselves.
According to the National College Health Assessment Summary, in 2016, 50.9 percent of students admit to participating in high-risk drinking activities in the past two weeks prior the survey. That is a lot of people, with a lot of them probably underage.
But what I find more interesting about this statistic is something else. I wrote a separate story for The Daily Iowan a while back that required research into the College Health Assessment summary, burrowing into the results for students of all ages and began to find a pattern.
As students got older, they said the “excitement” that came with drinking died away. These people didn’t tell me they stopped drinking altogether; rather, they stopped high-risk drinking or getting so drunk they blacked out.
Because this normally happened soon after students became 21, I found myself confused. Why is alcohol so exciting and fun when it’s illegal but loses its luster when it becomes legal?
Obviously, there is a problem with underage drinking in Iowa City, considering that the 21-ordinance was passed in 2010 prohibiting people under the age of 21 from being in bars past 10 p.m. There have been numerous attempts to repeal the ordinance; none have been successful.
And yet, underage students still go out to the bars after 10. Some sneak in, and others risk receiving fines after purchasing fake IDs.
Why? In my opinion, it has to do with the culture.
I have spoken to many people from different countries in which the drinking age is not so high as it is here. We’ve all heard the stories of people in European countries who drink wine with dinner, so what is the difference between them and Americans?
The differences between countries is not just a lower drinking age, because when underage Americans go to these countries, they still overindulge in alcohol. Perhaps it is a difference in culture, specifically a difference in what is seen as taboo and what is not. In America, a few years after people have become 21, drinking often becomes more casual.
Another reason behind this is perhaps because of the way drinking is dramatized. In the U.S., alcohol is looked at as the most spectacular thing. Cool kids drink. People drink to have a good time. But part of that dramatization is that it is indeed illegal.
It’s a thrill. The thought that you might get caught gets your blood pumping and your heart racing, and so it becomes a challenge, a game, a roller coaster of thrills and excitement.
But all this dies when it’s no longer illegal, or when you are born into a culture in which drinking moderate amounts is normal. Then it’s just drinking alcohol, and while for that’s great for some, for others it’s just another beverage.