Post 3: Compare two online articles

My controversial topic is based on the current legal drinking age in the United States. While many people believe that the legal drinking age should be 18, currently only individuals 21 years of age or older are allowed to consume alcoholic beverages.

The first article I found in favor of lowering the legal drinking age argues that if, at 18 years of age, you are responsible enough to vote, serve on jury duty, and possibly be drafted, then they should also be able to drink. The article also argued that if the legal drinking age were lowered, colleges would be able to take a more proactive approach when monitoring students alcohol intake. Instead colleges just tell students to not drink, which is far less effective. The article's last arguement is that if individuals under the age of 21 are not legally allowed to drink but desire to do so, they will seek out places to drink where they will be unseen. Without any monitoring this can lead to alcohol related injuries or even death.

Lower the Legal Drinking Age

The second article I found, in favor of the current drinking age, argued that Lowering the drinking age increases both youth binge drinking and intoxication. The article compared both Europe and the United States, and noted that Europe had far greater cases of binge drinking among their teens. On a biological level, the article stated that, "New brain science shows that alcohol negatively impacts the maturing brain and learning. The American Medical Association states that brain growth doesn't end until around age 20." So, allowing individuals who are 18 years old to drink would damage their developing brains.

Keep Drinking age at 21

I think that the first article is more convincing because it was very straightforward in delivering its facts. It also remained relatively short, which helped to keep my interest. My opinion after reading these two articles has not changed, because the more convincing article of the two agreed with my initial opinion.