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Friday, June 8, 2007
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Dear Reader
Dear Reader,
Hello! I am student at EVCC (Everett Community College) and my name is Andrew. This quarter, in English 98, has probably been my hardest quarter yet. That kind of scares me because I know it is only going to get harder. I’ve struggled in a lot of areas in my writing. I found that it was mostly my organization of my papers. That has always been my weak point in writing. I always end up getting overwhelmed. This was solved by being taught how to pre-write, which has helped me give organization and to know what to start and end with. In fact, I think it saved my life. I have a tendency to look at the whole picture instead of step by step, and in turn get overwhelmed by it.
In high school I had the same problem. I don’t know why it was but I think it was a lot of things put together. I think the biggest part that played in it was my self esteem. I would get overwhelmed and just give up. But back then I didn’t know how to pre-write. So I kind of just gave up and slacked my way through high school. But this isn’t high school so I cannot slack and that is why I think I have done so much better this quarter.
I think I have improved a lot over this quarter. It has been very stressful, and sometimes overwhelming. But actually sitting down and writing each of my papers really helped me. In the past, the papers that I did write, I never looked over any of them and never made any drafts. Looking back on this I just think it’s crazy not to do this. Just by prewriting and doing drafts has helped everything. I am a lot more organized, which I think was my major problem, and my word choice has changed for the better.
All in all I have improved so much over this quarter. My organization and my word choice have probably improved the most. It has been a very stressful quarter, but the improvements I have made is worth every bit of it. I hope you enjoy my writing and notice the improvements I have made.
Hello! I am student at EVCC (Everett Community College) and my name is Andrew. This quarter, in English 98, has probably been my hardest quarter yet. That kind of scares me because I know it is only going to get harder. I’ve struggled in a lot of areas in my writing. I found that it was mostly my organization of my papers. That has always been my weak point in writing. I always end up getting overwhelmed. This was solved by being taught how to pre-write, which has helped me give organization and to know what to start and end with. In fact, I think it saved my life. I have a tendency to look at the whole picture instead of step by step, and in turn get overwhelmed by it.
In high school I had the same problem. I don’t know why it was but I think it was a lot of things put together. I think the biggest part that played in it was my self esteem. I would get overwhelmed and just give up. But back then I didn’t know how to pre-write. So I kind of just gave up and slacked my way through high school. But this isn’t high school so I cannot slack and that is why I think I have done so much better this quarter.
I think I have improved a lot over this quarter. It has been very stressful, and sometimes overwhelming. But actually sitting down and writing each of my papers really helped me. In the past, the papers that I did write, I never looked over any of them and never made any drafts. Looking back on this I just think it’s crazy not to do this. Just by prewriting and doing drafts has helped everything. I am a lot more organized, which I think was my major problem, and my word choice has changed for the better.
All in all I have improved so much over this quarter. My organization and my word choice have probably improved the most. It has been a very stressful quarter, but the improvements I have made is worth every bit of it. I hope you enjoy my writing and notice the improvements I have made.
Introduction to Me So Nerdy
My first piece is actually my second major writing assignment, to define a word, phrase or thing. I decided to define the word "Nerd." I think I did pretty well on this paper. The thing I think I had the biggest problem with was my organization, and transitions. The definitions paper was probably the hardest paper for me to write. To me all of the arguments seemed kind of blended together, so it was hard for me to know where to end one paragraph and start a new one. But I really liked the visuals I made in my writing. Like when I talked about the movie “The revenge of the Nerds.” It really gave a good visual in people’s minds about what the stereotypical nerd looks like. Like when I wrote, "Most if not all of the people in this fraternity have tight high-water pants with suspenders attached to them, glasses and slicked back hair." Altogether, I thought the paper did a good job of defining the stereotypical nerd. I hope you enjoy it.
Me So Nerdy
What is a nerd? Everyone has a stereotypical idea of what a nerd is. We all have our own opinions but yet have the same basic idea. Many people would define a nerd as a loner with no social or competitive skills, but in some degrees that is not the case. A nerd is someone that would rather excel in something intellectual, such as computers or science, instead of something social, such as sports or parties. A nerd is not someone that tries their hardest to be popular or even cares about popularity. Although most would agree that nerds wish they had the social abilities such as a “jock” does.
It is a stereotypical fact that nerds are intellectual people. But why are they? Is it because they are born with it? Or is it because they have more brains than brawns? There are some nerdy people out there that are good at sports and things of that sort but most prefer to use their brains instead. A movie made in the late 1980’s called “Revenge of the Nerds” does a good job of stereotyping nerds. It’s a movie about a nerdy frat house that has a bunch of different types of nerds that are basically outcasts. This fraternity has the best academic scores but has the worst athletic curriculum and has no social status with the college council. Most if not all of the people in this fraternity have tight high-water pants with suspenders attached to them, glasses and slicked back hair. This movie gives a good visual of what nerds really look like, whether on the inside or out.
A nerd is not usually competitive, unless it’s a good game of Magic the Gathering, a strategy type card game, or Dungeons and Dragons, a role playing board game. But these types of games do not take strenuous acts on ones body, such as football or wrestling. Football and wrestling require ones body to be fit and top shape. This means a lot of exercise, something nerds do not do very much if at all. It does not take a fit body to make a good move with a card or reload Microsoft’s Windows on their hard drive. It requires knowledge and strategy to do these operations, something a nerd would rather do instead of compete against other people.
Everyone can agree that the captain of the football team is one of the most popular people in High School. But being the captain of the chess team means that they are at the bottom of the social chains. It is because it takes more brains to play chess than it does for football. Also nerds tend to favor activities that can be done alone or with a friend, instead of activities where a large number of their peers are all together. Cheerleaders wouldn’t be found at a chess game because there isn’t much opportunity to socialize. Even more so, chess is not a sexy sport. If one was to ask a person what a nerd looks like they would say something along the lines of a scrawny little guy with big round glasses. “Jock’s” on the other hand are idealized as big, lean, with huge muscles. They are seen as sexy figures compared to nerds, but not a lot of brains. Which is why nerds have such a problem with being social, they often have low self-esteem.
People see nerds as smart loners. This is because they would rather broaden there minds then get drunk and party with the popular people. Some people just don’t know how to play the popularity game, others just prefer the company of a small group rather than large get togethers. Some see themselves at being better at being the nerd than being some jock want-to-be. Some have self-esteem issues and have social problems. But they all are outcast of the popular group, and have turned to the intellectual side of things.
It is a stereotypical fact that nerds are intellectual people. But why are they? Is it because they are born with it? Or is it because they have more brains than brawns? There are some nerdy people out there that are good at sports and things of that sort but most prefer to use their brains instead. A movie made in the late 1980’s called “Revenge of the Nerds” does a good job of stereotyping nerds. It’s a movie about a nerdy frat house that has a bunch of different types of nerds that are basically outcasts. This fraternity has the best academic scores but has the worst athletic curriculum and has no social status with the college council. Most if not all of the people in this fraternity have tight high-water pants with suspenders attached to them, glasses and slicked back hair. This movie gives a good visual of what nerds really look like, whether on the inside or out.
A nerd is not usually competitive, unless it’s a good game of Magic the Gathering, a strategy type card game, or Dungeons and Dragons, a role playing board game. But these types of games do not take strenuous acts on ones body, such as football or wrestling. Football and wrestling require ones body to be fit and top shape. This means a lot of exercise, something nerds do not do very much if at all. It does not take a fit body to make a good move with a card or reload Microsoft’s Windows on their hard drive. It requires knowledge and strategy to do these operations, something a nerd would rather do instead of compete against other people.
Everyone can agree that the captain of the football team is one of the most popular people in High School. But being the captain of the chess team means that they are at the bottom of the social chains. It is because it takes more brains to play chess than it does for football. Also nerds tend to favor activities that can be done alone or with a friend, instead of activities where a large number of their peers are all together. Cheerleaders wouldn’t be found at a chess game because there isn’t much opportunity to socialize. Even more so, chess is not a sexy sport. If one was to ask a person what a nerd looks like they would say something along the lines of a scrawny little guy with big round glasses. “Jock’s” on the other hand are idealized as big, lean, with huge muscles. They are seen as sexy figures compared to nerds, but not a lot of brains. Which is why nerds have such a problem with being social, they often have low self-esteem.
People see nerds as smart loners. This is because they would rather broaden there minds then get drunk and party with the popular people. Some people just don’t know how to play the popularity game, others just prefer the company of a small group rather than large get togethers. Some see themselves at being better at being the nerd than being some jock want-to-be. Some have self-esteem issues and have social problems. But they all are outcast of the popular group, and have turned to the intellectual side of things.
Introduction to Arcane or Ammo
My second piece is my first major writing assignment. This paper we had to write was on comparing and contrasting to things of the same nature. Being the hardcore video gamer that I am I chose to compare/contrast first person shooters (FPS) and role playing games (RPG). Again I think my biggest problem was my organizations and transitions. Now this being my first paper I had to write in this class my transitions are little worse. But since then I think I have worked on and fixed those problems to a fairly good extent. What I really liked about what I did on this paper was how effective my comparisons were. Since most people do not play much (if at all) these types of video games there was a lot of vocabulary to explain and at times I didn’t even realize that people didn’t know what certain things meant/were. After rewriting it I fixed all those problems and my arguments were fairly strong. For example, "This is called DPS (damage per second) which is the amount of damage done by your group." I hope you enjoy my comparison/contrast paper and learn something sweet about FPS’s and RPG’s.
Arcane or Ammo
There are many types of video games out on the market and all do different types of things. Some types of games are solely based on skill and the luck of the draw, which are called first person shooters (FPS). These types usually consist of guns, explosives, and the occasional laser. Other types are not so much into the instant gratification such as first person shooters, where there is a constant death match going on. These games are called role playing games (RPG). They are called that for the basic reason of playing a role of one or more character(s). In these types of games a character is constantly being worked on to better the character. Whether it is leveling, questing, or grouping the character is constantly trying to get better items and weapons. Although these games are very different they ultimately are the same, to be the best player.
Role playing games are a constant battle to make a character the best. This is done by acquiring better items, such as weapons and armor. There are many types of ways to acquire these items. One can get these items by killing monsters, or buy them from the computer (NPC’s) or other characters. Some items can only be acquired through a buddy system called grouping, which is essentially a party of multiple players. By grouping it makes it a lot easier or even possible for players to kill enemies and bosses that are a lot stronger than them. These enemies and bosses drop better than normal items that improve the characters stats. Along with better items bosses usually give better experience for players to increase in level. These types of games are not based on pure skill, like first person shooters, they are about bettering the player’s character with items and leveling.
While role playing games are based on a constantly bettering the character, first person shooters often have similar aspects. Instead of gaining levels and experience, one would obtain better weapons, armor, and health revitalizing items. Health items are items that are consumed. For example, a person gets shot in the face and loses 50 percent health, so the player consumes something along the lines of a health pack, which restores 30 percent max health. FPS's (first person shooters) are a much faster paced game where the person has to be quick on the draw and accurate. These games are not based on making the character better, but rely on reflexes and better guns.
People may need new armor and weapons to make their character better, but communication is a key part of most RPG's. One of the biggest strategies in RPG's is grouping with other people. By finding other players to form a group your ability to get better experience and items greatly increases through killing harder enemies. In creating an effective group communication is crucial. If the players do not communicate with the rest of the team it can end up being off balance. Being off balance means that there is either a character that is too low of level in the group or there is too much of one class. For example, if there are three healers in the group the group may be hard to die but killing enemies and bosses would also be too hard from not doing enough damage. This is called DPS (damage per second) which is the amount of damage done by your group. A well balanced group, consisting of enough DPS and healing, is the key to success and can only be achieved by communicating. Other aspects of communication are very important to the player. Playing a game such as World of Warcraft or Guild Wars has such a huge and immense world that not having a guild or friends to talk to sometimes makes the game very boring. With such huge and rich environment a character can be alone in the world a lot of the time. Having a guild or some friends to talk to while killing for experience makes the game more fun.
Communicating in a FPS is not as important as in a RPG. This has to do with how the game is played. Most First person shooters consist of many games on many different servers, this only takes place if the person is playing multiplayer. First person shooter games have the choice of either playing with others or by themselves. Since multiplayer games for FPS's are more instanced with a small team against another small team and have the same objectives, usually with minimum amount of strategy, there really is no reason for communication. Getting a group together in a FPS is very different than getting a group together in a RPG. The groups are very random because all the different types of games are posted on a list and the person just chooses one he prefers to play. Each game has different objectives and weapons that drop. For example, one game might consist of only rocket launchers while the objective is to capture the flag. When choosing a game from the many that are posted there is no communication needed. In fact, a person can play for hours and hours without talking to anyone. This is because most FPS have two main consistencies of having an opposing team and a main objective.
Although first person shooters and role playing games are very different in many ways, they are both constantly working on bettering their character or skills. Both games have very similar attributes like getting armor and weapons for their character. FPS's do consume items faster than RPG's but that is only because it is a faster paced game. Players are constantly killing or being killed. That is why there is such a need for better armor and weapons. For instance, if two people go head to head and are equal in skill the person with the better weapon is going to win almost every time. RPG's are much the same, if a person has better weapons and armor they are going to win. Both types of games have one basic objective, to be the best player possible.
Role playing games are a constant battle to make a character the best. This is done by acquiring better items, such as weapons and armor. There are many types of ways to acquire these items. One can get these items by killing monsters, or buy them from the computer (NPC’s) or other characters. Some items can only be acquired through a buddy system called grouping, which is essentially a party of multiple players. By grouping it makes it a lot easier or even possible for players to kill enemies and bosses that are a lot stronger than them. These enemies and bosses drop better than normal items that improve the characters stats. Along with better items bosses usually give better experience for players to increase in level. These types of games are not based on pure skill, like first person shooters, they are about bettering the player’s character with items and leveling.
While role playing games are based on a constantly bettering the character, first person shooters often have similar aspects. Instead of gaining levels and experience, one would obtain better weapons, armor, and health revitalizing items. Health items are items that are consumed. For example, a person gets shot in the face and loses 50 percent health, so the player consumes something along the lines of a health pack, which restores 30 percent max health. FPS's (first person shooters) are a much faster paced game where the person has to be quick on the draw and accurate. These games are not based on making the character better, but rely on reflexes and better guns.
People may need new armor and weapons to make their character better, but communication is a key part of most RPG's. One of the biggest strategies in RPG's is grouping with other people. By finding other players to form a group your ability to get better experience and items greatly increases through killing harder enemies. In creating an effective group communication is crucial. If the players do not communicate with the rest of the team it can end up being off balance. Being off balance means that there is either a character that is too low of level in the group or there is too much of one class. For example, if there are three healers in the group the group may be hard to die but killing enemies and bosses would also be too hard from not doing enough damage. This is called DPS (damage per second) which is the amount of damage done by your group. A well balanced group, consisting of enough DPS and healing, is the key to success and can only be achieved by communicating. Other aspects of communication are very important to the player. Playing a game such as World of Warcraft or Guild Wars has such a huge and immense world that not having a guild or friends to talk to sometimes makes the game very boring. With such huge and rich environment a character can be alone in the world a lot of the time. Having a guild or some friends to talk to while killing for experience makes the game more fun.
Communicating in a FPS is not as important as in a RPG. This has to do with how the game is played. Most First person shooters consist of many games on many different servers, this only takes place if the person is playing multiplayer. First person shooter games have the choice of either playing with others or by themselves. Since multiplayer games for FPS's are more instanced with a small team against another small team and have the same objectives, usually with minimum amount of strategy, there really is no reason for communication. Getting a group together in a FPS is very different than getting a group together in a RPG. The groups are very random because all the different types of games are posted on a list and the person just chooses one he prefers to play. Each game has different objectives and weapons that drop. For example, one game might consist of only rocket launchers while the objective is to capture the flag. When choosing a game from the many that are posted there is no communication needed. In fact, a person can play for hours and hours without talking to anyone. This is because most FPS have two main consistencies of having an opposing team and a main objective.
Although first person shooters and role playing games are very different in many ways, they are both constantly working on bettering their character or skills. Both games have very similar attributes like getting armor and weapons for their character. FPS's do consume items faster than RPG's but that is only because it is a faster paced game. Players are constantly killing or being killed. That is why there is such a need for better armor and weapons. For instance, if two people go head to head and are equal in skill the person with the better weapon is going to win almost every time. RPG's are much the same, if a person has better weapons and armor they are going to win. Both types of games have one basic objective, to be the best player possible.
Introduction to Inventory of Being
I really enjoyed writing this piece because while writing it I discovered things about myself I didn't even know. Like when i wrote "I like pears and giant pine cones." I had no idea when I was writing this that I did like those things, I was just blotting things down. After finishing, I read it over and was quite amazed at my personality. I have never really been into writing poems but this was very enjoyable. I hope you enjoy this piece, because it taught me a lot about myself that I didn't really pay attention to.
Inventory of Being
My name is Andrew
I am 21
I am a student of EVCC
I have blond hair and green eyes
I stand five foot nine
I am an at home mechanic
I am an excellent swimmer
I am an awesome brother
I love computers and the color brown
I prefer summer over any other season
I like pears and giant pinecones
I love my girlfriend
I love graphic design and computer games
And I love the Hawaiian beaches
I hope to be successful
I hope to travel the world and meet new people
I believe in good manners
I believe in life outside of our solar system
I believe in hypnotism
I know I have a crazy dog
I know I need to exercise more
I don’t understand women
But I have a lot of respect for them
I don’t understand politics
I do not understand the need to wear overalls
I hate traffic
I hate the movie Happy Feet
I do not like convertibles
I cannot live without spaghetti
I cannot live without friends
I spend too much money on my computer
And way too much on car insurance (curses to being born a man!)
I really like the comedian Steven Colbert
If I was rich I would buy my mom a Volvo
I wish I didn’t have to work
I wish I had a nice house
I fiddle with my hair a lot
I start my sentences in the middle (sometimes, not all :P)
I am not competitive but I love Player vs. Player
I want to get a degree in graphics design because I love computers
I love to be outside
But I live in Washington >:O
My name is Andrew
And this is Spring 2007
I am 21
I am a student of EVCC
I have blond hair and green eyes
I stand five foot nine
I am an at home mechanic
I am an excellent swimmer
I am an awesome brother
I love computers and the color brown
I prefer summer over any other season
I like pears and giant pinecones
I love my girlfriend
I love graphic design and computer games
And I love the Hawaiian beaches
I hope to be successful
I hope to travel the world and meet new people
I believe in good manners
I believe in life outside of our solar system
I believe in hypnotism
I know I have a crazy dog
I know I need to exercise more
I don’t understand women
But I have a lot of respect for them
I don’t understand politics
I do not understand the need to wear overalls
I hate traffic
I hate the movie Happy Feet
I do not like convertibles
I cannot live without spaghetti
I cannot live without friends
I spend too much money on my computer
And way too much on car insurance (curses to being born a man!)
I really like the comedian Steven Colbert
If I was rich I would buy my mom a Volvo
I wish I didn’t have to work
I wish I had a nice house
I fiddle with my hair a lot
I start my sentences in the middle (sometimes, not all :P)
I am not competitive but I love Player vs. Player
I want to get a degree in graphics design because I love computers
I love to be outside
But I live in Washington >:O
My name is Andrew
And this is Spring 2007
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Introduction to 21 Is Too High
My last piece is also my last major writing assignment. This paper was an argumentative/persuasive paper. This was by far my favorite paper to write. I liked this paper because all of the skills I have learned from writing my past papers have helped me for this paper. All the practice on organization and transitions paid off. I had to do a lot of research on my topic and I think that helped a lot, giving me a really good idea of what points I wanted to put across. Like when i wrote, "In the 1920’s we tried to rid alcohol substance abuse by banning alcohol altogether, known as Prohibition. These laws didn’t work out as well as planned because the laws weren’t enforced by the people." I also liked how I kept some neutrality of my subject but yet countering it by pointing out another good reason why to. This was my favorite paper so I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.
21 Is Too High
Although having the legal age of drinking at 21 has saved many lives from alcohol related accidents, reducing the age to 16 would introduce maturity to drinking socially with other people. Not being able to drink at bars, restaurants and other social gatherings hinders the ability to know how to correctly drink in a mature manner. Drinking around mature adults and being treated like one makes a lot of influence on the decisions teens and young adults have on how to be social and/or drinking and driving.
In 1999 a study, from researchers at Columbia University, showed that more that 5 million students under the age limit binge drink (more than 5 drinks per sitting) at least once a month, and an estimated $27 billion dollars was spent yearly on alcohol by young adults under the age limit. This means that $27 billion dollars was spent on alcohol to be drunk unsupervised and irresponsibly by minors. Instead, if the drinking age was reduced to 16 this alcohol could be drunk legally in bars and taverns, with a mature point of view.
In 1984 a law was passed on the age to purchase alcohol to age 21.This was meant to lower the amount of alcohol related automobile fatalities. By doing this, people (young adults) are not introduced to the idea of socializing maturely at a bar or restaurant while drinking. Instead they are forced to drink privately and irresponsibly with others that do not understand how to drink. This leads to the immature ideas of drinking oneself silly. This type of thinking is a way to rebel against authority, which is, while a teenager, one of the “cool” things to do. This leads to bad decisions like drinking and driving, and teenage pregnancies.
Europe’s legal drinking age is 16 in most countries, and no legal drinking age in others. This introduces them to alcohol at a much younger age. They may binge drink once in a while like everyone else, but they understand the social aspect of it too. This results in a hugely reduced number of alcohol substance abuse. Also many families introduce their children to small amounts of alcohol in a controlled environment, such as holidays and weddings, at an earlier age. This helps them understand the effects of alcohol before being able to drive.
Drinking is a big responsibility not only for ones self but for the others around them, that’s why lowering the legal age to 16 would not work for us since our driving laws are different than the UK’s. They are more lenient on drinking laws than they are on driving laws. People in the UK start driving at the age of 18 which gives them two years to figure out what drinking socially is really like. Unlike the UK, we have it backwards. We have 5 years to figure out how to drive and once we get used to the concept we are able to drink legally, but this isn’t to say that we do not drink under the age. That is why I think we should do the same and higher our driving age to 18 at the same time.
Studies from The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have shown that, since 1985, almost 16,000 lives have been saved due to the drinking age 21 or above. We can all agree that this is a good thing. But would this number increase if people were introduced to alcohol before driving? In the 1920’s we tried to rid alcohol substance abuse by banning alcohol altogether, known as Prohibition. These laws didn’t work out as well as planned because the laws weren’t enforced by the people. These laws led to a social break down because anyone that wanted to have a drink had to do it illegally, which meant that people could not drink socially or be forced to pay the penalty. These laws were later expunged due to the huge amounts of citizens breaking the laws. The point is that we are repeating these same problems that we had during prohibition, and inevitably leading our teenagers to drink irresponsibly and drive.
There are things to look at when thinking about lowering the drinking age. Drinking and driving is a big deal, probably one of the biggest issues with teens. By lowering the drinking age and increasing the driving age, teens would be more understanding of alcohol and its effects, much like the Europeans. They would have more of a mature idea of drinking socially since they would have a place to drink legally, such as bars and restaurants. This would help teens make better decisions on drinking and driving and ultimately become more educated on the subject.
In 1999 a study, from researchers at Columbia University, showed that more that 5 million students under the age limit binge drink (more than 5 drinks per sitting) at least once a month, and an estimated $27 billion dollars was spent yearly on alcohol by young adults under the age limit. This means that $27 billion dollars was spent on alcohol to be drunk unsupervised and irresponsibly by minors. Instead, if the drinking age was reduced to 16 this alcohol could be drunk legally in bars and taverns, with a mature point of view.
In 1984 a law was passed on the age to purchase alcohol to age 21.This was meant to lower the amount of alcohol related automobile fatalities. By doing this, people (young adults) are not introduced to the idea of socializing maturely at a bar or restaurant while drinking. Instead they are forced to drink privately and irresponsibly with others that do not understand how to drink. This leads to the immature ideas of drinking oneself silly. This type of thinking is a way to rebel against authority, which is, while a teenager, one of the “cool” things to do. This leads to bad decisions like drinking and driving, and teenage pregnancies.
Europe’s legal drinking age is 16 in most countries, and no legal drinking age in others. This introduces them to alcohol at a much younger age. They may binge drink once in a while like everyone else, but they understand the social aspect of it too. This results in a hugely reduced number of alcohol substance abuse. Also many families introduce their children to small amounts of alcohol in a controlled environment, such as holidays and weddings, at an earlier age. This helps them understand the effects of alcohol before being able to drive.
Drinking is a big responsibility not only for ones self but for the others around them, that’s why lowering the legal age to 16 would not work for us since our driving laws are different than the UK’s. They are more lenient on drinking laws than they are on driving laws. People in the UK start driving at the age of 18 which gives them two years to figure out what drinking socially is really like. Unlike the UK, we have it backwards. We have 5 years to figure out how to drive and once we get used to the concept we are able to drink legally, but this isn’t to say that we do not drink under the age. That is why I think we should do the same and higher our driving age to 18 at the same time.
Studies from The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have shown that, since 1985, almost 16,000 lives have been saved due to the drinking age 21 or above. We can all agree that this is a good thing. But would this number increase if people were introduced to alcohol before driving? In the 1920’s we tried to rid alcohol substance abuse by banning alcohol altogether, known as Prohibition. These laws didn’t work out as well as planned because the laws weren’t enforced by the people. These laws led to a social break down because anyone that wanted to have a drink had to do it illegally, which meant that people could not drink socially or be forced to pay the penalty. These laws were later expunged due to the huge amounts of citizens breaking the laws. The point is that we are repeating these same problems that we had during prohibition, and inevitably leading our teenagers to drink irresponsibly and drive.
There are things to look at when thinking about lowering the drinking age. Drinking and driving is a big deal, probably one of the biggest issues with teens. By lowering the drinking age and increasing the driving age, teens would be more understanding of alcohol and its effects, much like the Europeans. They would have more of a mature idea of drinking socially since they would have a place to drink legally, such as bars and restaurants. This would help teens make better decisions on drinking and driving and ultimately become more educated on the subject.
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