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Michael Gonchar's Should The Drinking Age Be Lowered?

1516 Words7 Pages

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. …show more content…

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

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Rhetorical Analysis This essay represents an effective piece of argumentation. The author states her purpose by saying teens are not mature enough to handle a lower age to legally drink alcohol. Tag? Joyce Alcantara tries to convince the readers that the age to legally drink should not be altered and assumes that the audience agrees that “Our youths today are the leaders of tomorrow” (468). With that, we must protect our years ahead.

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" The only part that clearly states his miain point is in the title of the article. To make his concept clear within the reading, adding your opinion in respect to the other view points is a good way to state the opposing ideas and should clearly standout where you stand among the two concepts. Misleading the audience gives a point to the author 's favor. To persuade, the author must have

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They note that binge drinking on campus is rampant despite the stricture, and argue that if students were given the rights to drink at an earlier age, they might handle it more responsibly.” I think that Greenblatt is right because less and less college teens would heavily drink if they were exposed to it earlier and would know how to be responsible with it. If the age was turned down to 18 then teens would not feel the urge to binge drink it. I think teens like feeling the rush of doing something that they know is not good. Most teens are more responsible than older adults.

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Therefore, lowering the legal drinking age encourages teenagers to assist others from the dangers of drinking and

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But while it has succeeded in that, it is also believed that tougher rules, such as DUI rules and seatbelt safety rules have also played a part in this decrease. However, this higher drinking age hasn’t reduced drinking, its only “driven it underground,” Gabrielle Glaser states in her NY Times article. It has been driven underground to the riskiest settings, high school parties and frat parties that are unsupervised. This age raise segregates the drinking away from adults that can model moderation in drinking. If an 18-year-old high school senior is shown by his/her parent(s) how to drink responsibly and in moderation, I believe that it would greatly help in reducing the chance of making bad decisions by overdoing it, such as driving while drinking.

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The first and most used of the three arguments is that it could reduce or even eliminate unsafe drinking activities. One of the most dangerous times for drinking in the United States is between the ages of 18 - 20. Once a person reaches the age of 18, he or she gains all of his or her legal adult rights, except the right to drink. By allowing supervised drinking ability for those in the age bracket of 18 - 20, it could reduce or even eliminate risky drinking behaviors that can lead to bad decisions. Besides, it has not stopped teen drinking, and it probably never will.

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Over the years, there have been debates about lowering the drinking age in the United States to eighteen. People argue that if a person can fight in the military or vote in elections, then he or she should be allowed the right to drink alcohol. Others feel that it is not wise to lower the legal drinking age because the results would be dangerous. Although there are arguments for lowering the drinking age, there is also an abundance of research that proves lowering the drinking age would be destructive. The legal drinking age should not be lowered to eighteen because it will give high school and even middle school students greater access to alcohol, interfere with brain development, adult rights begin at twenty-one, and increase traffic accidents among the youth.

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These debates have also shaped two paradigms whereby one is for the opinion that if 18-year-olds are legally allowed to join the armed forces, to vote, join the jury, and drive, why can’t they be allowed to drink alcohol? The other paradigm holds that reducing the minimum legal drinking age to 18 years would not guarantee responsible drinking and as such may result in serious injuries or death. Paradigm 1 It is unfair to allow 18-year-olds to fight enemies in battle fields but yet deny them the right to have a drink. Therefore, if the law feels that 18-year-olds are capable of joining the armed forces, driving, and voting, then

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A poll taken on July 2014 asked the public opinion of US adults for lowering the US legal drinking age from 21 to 18. Approximately 74% of the people opposed the idea, whereas roughly 25% of the people supported the idea ("Public Opinion" 1). The statistics indicate satisfaction among the majority of the people; however, with the current laws many issues arise that must be addressed concerning alcohol use. For starters, studies show an increase of dangerous drinking habits among young adults (Hall 2). In addition, the enforcement of the drinking laws and education on alcohol is insubstantial (Moyse, Fonder 3).

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