Drinking Age

source: Le Monde Blogs, FRENCH FRIES
author: Audrey Sokolo, student at the University of Virginia
translation: doxa-louise

America's Students and Drinking Age

As you are no doubt aware, the legal drinking age in the United States is 21.When I arrived in Charlottesville for my year at the University of Virginia, I was not aware that this law might be having a major impact on the lives of American students. In effect, it complicates things for them. Most of my peers will be turning 21 during their fourth year at University. These students are thus 'under age' for most of their studies.

To get around this, most will resort to false identity cards. It is a system known by all, with sites proposing the creation of such cards against renumeration. Some are thus prepared to invest more than one hundred dollars to guarantee their entry to bars or clubs. The alternative solution is to spend evenings in fraternities, quasi-club associations which recruit by cooptation, where the 'under age' are allowed to consume alcohol.

Many of my friends find this rule for 21 hard to explain, given that the rest of the world allows alcohol consumption starting at 18. They are offended that it contributes to a massive market in false identity papers and believe it contributes to  'anarchical' consumption behavior for  alcohol.

In effect, under age students not being allowed to frequent bars legally, they would consume a great deal of alcohol during 'house parties', or again 'frat parties'. This uncontrolled and excessive consumption of alcohol would be partly responsible for sexual aggressions on American campuses, a widespread phenomenon. Obviously, one needs to take care evaluating these suppositions, and there are no studies, to my knowledge, linking excessive drinking and sexual aggression on campus.

One American friend, having spent some time in Europe confided to me that Europeans seem more mature in their alcohol consumption. European societies are more permissive with respect to alcohol, and students would learn to be more responsible. Whatever, Europe takes no back seat in the massive consumption of alcohol among students.

Noteworthy is that alcohol consumption reaches a peak during Spring Break, a week of vacation between March 8 and 15 where a number of American students - not all - leave for exotic destinations (Mexico and the Dominican Republic) where the legal drinking age is 18. As for myself, I am staying in the U.S. but heading for Miami Beach, Florida. It will be a pleasure for me to convey to you how this apparently necessary episode in the life of an American student,  transpires.