Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Should the U.S. legal drinking age be lowered from 21 to 18 years of age? Since 1984 the law has been 21 years old to consume alcohol but should the law be changed? During our class discussion this semester
Essay Questions Student will prepare two multiple-paragraph essays of about 800-1,000 words (2-3 pages) on the topics below. Your essays will be scored on the basis of how effectively you are able to answer the questions presented. Your score will be based on your ability to express, organize, and support your opinions and ideas, not the position you take on the essay topic. The following five characteristics of writing will be considered: • Focus–The clarity with which you maintain your main idea or point of view. • Organization–The clarity with which you structure your response and present a logical sequence of ideas. • Development and Support–The extent to which you elaborate on your ideas and the extent to which you present supporting details. • Sentence Structure–The effectiveness of your sentence structure. • Mechanical Conventions–The extent to which your writing is free of errors in usage and mechanics. Essays should be 2-3 pages, typed, double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font with 1-inch margins. The paper, title page, and references follow APA guidelines. Please make sure rules of grammar, usage, and punctuation are followed. Please answer both Essay question.
Question 1.
Should the U.S. legal drinking age be lowered from 21 to 18 years of age? Since 1984 the law has been 21 years old to consume alcohol but should the law be changed? During our class discussion this semester, we approached the issue of the legal age of drinking from the perspective of one of two general paradigms. Paradigm one holds that how can we as a society say that 18-year-olds are old enough to kill or die in the armed forces, participate in the course of the nation in the voting booth, judge their peers in a jury, and operate automobiles … but that 18 year olds are insufficiently mature to take a drink. Paradigm two generally holds that, allowing teenagers to drink at the age of 18 won’t ensure that they drink responsibly which can result in serious injury or death to themselves or other people. Drawing on the works from book, outside sources, and your own opinion, summarize the strongest case for each of these positions and do one of the following: a) Evaluate which of the two positions makes the better argument, or b) Present and defend a third alternative to both of the positions. Some things to consider: • Part of each of these paradigms is an explanation of how a belief in the other paradigm serves to make things worse. • Each of these paradigms has different political agendas. • The nature of alcohol consumption: who benefits (i.e., media, companies, politicians) • Whether American institutions, policies and the rule of law operate to serve the interests of those who produce alcohol or to protect the interest of those who could be injured by an alcohol abuser. • How does the judicial system play a part in this argument?
Question 2.
Is Alcoholism a Disease? The debate over whether alcoholism is a disease or simply a serious behavioral problem has continued for over 200 years and doesn’t appear likely to end anytime soon. The disease theory of alcoholism is embodied in four propositions: 1. Heavy problem drinkers show a single distinctive pattern of ever greater alcohol use leading to ever greater bodily, mental, and social deterioration. 2. The condition once it appears persists involuntarily: the craving is irresistible and the drinking is uncontrollable once it has begun. 3. Medical expertise is needed to understand and relieve the condition (‘cure the disease’) or at least ameliorate its symptoms. 4. Alcoholics are no more responsible legally or morally for their drinking and its consequences than epileptics are responsible for the consequences of their movements during seizures.” Drawing information from your book, outside sources, and your own opinion, summarize the strongest case for whether alcoholism is a disease or a serious behavior problem
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