Michael Gonchar's Should The Drinking Age Be Lowered?

At the age of eighteen, teens are allowed to enlist in the military, virtually putting their life on the line to defend our country. With this great responsibility, another questions continues to rise; if eighteen year olds are mature enough to sacrifice their lives for the country, shouldn’t they also be mature enough to drink at the age of 18? Michael Gonchar, an author of Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered? from the New York Times, wrote an objective article looking at both pros and cons of lowering the legal drinking age. On the other hand, John McCardell wrote an article in support of lowering the legal drinking age to eighteen. To persuade the audience, both authors use numerous rhetorical techniques. Despite contrasting views, Gonchar and McCardell build logical reasoning and persuasion by appealing to pathos, using statistics, and strong organization to give credibility to their piece.

Similar to McCardell, Gonchar begins with background information including government Amendments, which builds credibility. Unlike McCardell, Michael Gonchar remains unbiased by providing readers with two examples from strong sources, an author and a professor at IUPUI. Gonchar first uses an excerpt from Gabrielle Glaser, author of “Her Best-Kept Secret: Why Women Drink - and How They Can Regain Control”, who believes that the drinking age should be lowered. Next, Gonchar includes an excerpt from Tamika Zapolski, a professor at IUPUI, and supporter of keeping the drinking age at 21. The article concludes with Gonchar’s summary of the two excerpts and main points they consider. The fact that Gonchar remains unbiased helps strengthen his reasoning and build reliability by showing readers that he fully intends to show both sides and allows the audience to decide what is correct. By using two different examples with explanation after each one, the article flows freely and is easier to