Underage students should follow the law
Here are some facts related to Adrienne Breaux’s contention underage students need more education and more incentives to drink responsibly.
A recent Harvard School of Public Health study revealed there is no positive correlation between education about alcohol and a reduction in high-risk drinking among college students. It is the environment surrounding students that promotes excessive drinking: the low price of alcohol, easy access to alcohol, attending a school with many binge drinkers, student perceptions that their friends are binge drinkers, parental drinking attitudes and behaviors and beginning to drink at an early age. Unfortunately, heavy drinkers experience far more damage than students who drink minimally or not at all, and underage students drink more excessively than do students over 21.
True, underage students obtain and consume alcohol in lots of places, not just bars. Between 75 and 80 percent of LSU underage students say that they will not get caught drinking at a Greek party, an off-campus bar or an off-campus party. And 67 percent of LSU underage students say they can get alcohol in a bar without showing their IDs. Furthermore, despite having some of the strictest DWI laws in the nation, Louisiana still has the second highest incidence of alcohol-related fatal crashes, and young people between the ages of 15 and 20 are overrepresented in that statistic. What we really need is more compliance with and enforcement of Louisiana laws.
We are recruiting any LSU students who are willing to assume leadership roles to reduce alcohol-related problems among their peers. Step up.
Nancy I. MathewsExecutive Director
Campus-Community Coalition for Change
Don’t ban young students from bars
While reading through The Reveille Tuesday I came across an article titled “Removing the X.” As a responsible college student who enjoys going to the bars every now and then, I was somewhat surprised to read Louisiana lawmakers even are attempting to do what no one would ever think they would. Banning 18- to 20-year-olds from all bars to lower the drunk driving accident rate seems crazy to me. Eighteen- to 20-year-old people are old enough to get drafted to fight for their country, and in some cases, kill other human beings, yet they are being threatened to get banned from all bars.
As it said in the column, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 15,786 people were killed in alcohol-related accidents in 1999. What I would like to know is exactly how many of those 15,786 accident-prone deaths were actually caused by 18- to 20-year-olds. As a resident of a nearby apartment complex to Tigerland, it is clear to me many of the bar seekers walk to their favorite bar destination, not drive.
Although Col. Jim Champagne described allowing people who are not permitted to drink alcohol to enter places as hypocritical, why is the legal age to serve alcohol as a waiter/waitress is only 18? Does that not seem hypocritical?
Yes, I agree there is a problem with drunk driving, but giving college students, or should I say 18- to 20-year-old college students, nothing to do on the weekends seems like it would do more harm than good.
Carrie DeVries
Freshman — Mass Communication
Technology necessary for good education
I must say I disagree with Andrew Whitley’s “Students’ apathy affects school quality” on several points. With regard to the state of modern education though, it is becoming quite archaic by today’s standards. Shakespeare, Socrates and Booker T. Washington were not accustomed to air conditioning and computers, and in the absence of, did quite well because that was normal. Modern America could just as well be a different world, though. Children brought up on TV, CDs, DVDs, computers, the Internet, cell phones and air conditioning will find it much more difficult to function with any degree of finesse in an environment stripped of such amenities.
At one time, a book was cutting-edge technology and receiving mail was an exciting event. Today though, words in print are considerably less compelling, and the rapid exchange of information is commonplace.
I am not so naïve as to believe someone can be forced to learn, and I am well aware America’s perception of school needs to change from that of a chore to that of a rare opportunity not available in many parts of the world. If, however, the information was presented in the multimedia style of say a TLC, Discovery Channel or History Channel show, it may be possible to snare one’s fleeting attention. Even if it meant reverting back to early 90s technology to circumvent the increased financial burden, it would in the end be for the greater good. Alternatively, a $200 Playstation 2 has more than enough processing power for academic and educational purposes. Switching to CDs or DVDs also would reduce the cost of books to the mere cost of their development, as the unit cost of a disc is pennies, while the bound paper format is quite expensive. Additions, current discoveries and corrections could be dissipated through the Internet as patches and upgrades economically, efficiently and effortlessly.
In closing, our education system needs to let go of its stubborn adherence to books as the only real educationally worthy tool and accept them for what they are — a medium, a medium of a generation past.
Colter Gates
Senior — Biological Sciences