Legal Age To Twenty One example essay topic

On his most recent birthday my brother turned eighteen. He was now legally an adult. He could do what he wanted, go where ever he wanted and no one could tell him any differently. Soon after his birthday he decided what he wanted to do with his life, and as he signed his name to that dotted line, I asked him if he found it ironic that he could give his life for his country, but still, was not old enough to purchase beer? My brother who is now legally an adult, who is responsible for his own well being, for paying his own bills, can serve his country proudly, can vote for local, state, and government officials, serve jury duty, enter into binding contracts, rent, lease or buy, property and vehicles, get married, pay child support, sue, hold credit cards, smoke, be drafted, and be legally tried as a adult and go to prison, but yet, can not buy alcohol or gamble.

Is society trying to tell us that we are not mature enough to make these kinds of decisions until the ripe old age of twenty-one? Are we not responsible enough or intelligent enough to make decisions that deal with drinking or gambling? But we are smart enough to make other life long decisions, such as married, or joining the service. I don't think we are.

I think decision making on that level should be held back until the age of twenty-one. Many bars across the nation have eighteen to enter twenty-one to drink rules. This can not possibly be considered a good thing. Underage drinking is a huge problem in our society and statistics show that since raising the legal drinking age to twenty-one, all alcohol related crimes have went down.

According to Jim Hall, Chairman of the Duran 2 National Transportation Safety Board", In 1984, Congress passed the National Minimum Purchase Age Act, to encourage each state to enact a minimum legal purchase age (MLP A) of 21 by 1988. In 1996 they estimated the number of lives saved reached nearly 17,000. In addition to a 63% decline in alcoholic related crash fatalities among youth drivers since 1982, also decreasing the number of DWI arrests youth suicides, marijuana use, and crime and alcohol consumption by youth."The National Center for Health Statistics, Examination Survey for 1971-1980 shows that the behavior of 10 year olds is particularly influential on youth ages 15-17, as young people typically imitate the practices of those who are slightly older. Therefore, if 18 year olds can legally drink, their immediate, younger peers will drink too". The old monkey see, monkey do routine. "Young people who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence than those who begin drinking at 21, according to the National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University".

Raising the drinking age was an intelligent solution to a serious problem. Raising the legal age of adulthood from eighteen to twenty-one would mean more mature, responsible individuals as young adults. We have already proven that by raising the legal drinking age, and we should learn by example. At eighteen, I believe these young adults don't have enough knowledge, skills or experience yet, to make some of these difficult decisions. Especially when it comes to their finances. They have proven this in their national debt standings.

In Sallie Mae, State PIRG's "The Burden of Borrowing" 1999-2000 survey shows that: Duran 3 $16,928 Average cumulative federal student loan debt 64% Percentage of students who take out federal student loans 32% Percentage of students who have four or more credit cards $2,748 Average student credit card debt 10% Percentage of students who owe more than $7,000 on credit cards. That's quite a bit of debt for some one who is still in school and doesn't even hold a job. Student loans and government loans are understandable, but so much credit card debt early in ones' life can only be cause for trouble. "Harvard University's Consumer Bankruptcy Project states that quite too often, small measures aren't enough. Increasingly, young debtors are looking toward bankruptcy as a quick solution. Some 100,000 debtors in their 20's filed for bankruptcy last year alone".

That's a lot of debt. "Even in high school, seniors uses credit cards, and half of those have cards in their own names, according to a survey conducted this year by Jumpstart Coalition". What does a senior in high school need with a credit card? Most seniors today can't even hold a job.

Mom and dad are still flipping the bill for them, buying their cars and paying their insurance. How are students supposed to learn to be responsible when their parents are not teaching them responsibility? Many students today, have cell phones, pagers, and computers, paid for by the parents. "A new report claims that cigarettes are slowly being replaced by an equally addictive obsession- the mobile phone. Among some of the reports findings: Duran 4. A rise in mobile phone use during the late 1990's coincided with a decline in smoking among 15-year-olds...

The prevalence of smoking fell to 23% in 1999 from 30% in 1996, the same year mobile phone use skyrocketed among 15- to 18-year-olds "We hypothesize that the fall in youth smoking and the rise in ownership of mobile phones among adolescents are related", the authors write. They suggest that many teens cannot afford to sustain both habits and prefer the cutting-edge technology over the smoking. They also note that the device is associated with many of the traits that attract teens to cigarettes: . a sense of individuality and sociability. a desire to rebel. the need to bond with friends "The marketing of mobile phones is rooted in promoting self-image and identity, which resembles cigarette advertising", the researchers write. "As ownership increases, mobile phones will become essential for membership of peer groups that organize their social life on the move and by means of mobile phones", they conclude. Technology is a wonderful thing and anything is better then smoking. All of these statistics show that teens are not mature enough, or show enough responsibility at age eighteen to venture into adulthood.

Raising the legal age to twenty-one would lower our national debt average, but not giving credit cards to teens. It would lower the national divorce rate for those who married too young. And most of all, it will improve our society as a whole and give our children that time to grow from a teen to an adult. Duran 5

Bibliography

British Medical Journal November 4, 2000;
321: 1155 Hall, Jim. Chairman, National Transportation Safety Board, at press conference on the National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month, Washington, DC, December 18, 1997.
Mae, Sallie. State PIRGs' " The Burden of Borrowing" 1999-2000 National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Colombia university, "Cigarettes, Alcohol, Marijuana.
Getaways to illicit Drug Use", October 1994.
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Colombia university, "Cigarettes, Alcohol, Marijuana. Mae, Sallie. State PIRGs' " The Burden of Borrowing" 1999-2000.