College students like booze

Before I begin, I need all parents, teachers and administrators to sit down. Get… Before I begin, I need all parents, teachers and administrators to sit down. Get comfortable, because I’m about to drop a proverbial bomb on your heads, opening your eyes to something you might not have known.

College kids drink alcohol.

And they do it a lot. I know, I know – most of you are probably very surprised, possibly even falling out of the chairs I just told you to sit in. Sweet little Jeffy and Ruthie aren’t reading the Bible on Friday nights, unless you count the books of Jim, Jack and Jose.

Now, my goal isn’t to crush the images you’ve previously had of Pitt’sstudent body.

I just needed to get the fact that underage drinking exists out of the way to introduce you all to a new way of preventing the dangerous side affects of social consumption.

Let them do it.

According to psychologist Stanton Peele, kids who drink in moderation earlier in their childhood have a lower tendency to binge drink in their late teens. In his new book “Addiction Proof Your Child,” Peele points out that many kids from European countries, including Greece and Italy, have fewer problems with drinking after being introduced to it at home.

Peele doesn’t think parents should hand their children funnels, but a glass of wine during special occasions can’t hurt. If a few drinks early on prevent a few too many down the road, then what’s the harm?

According to CNN.com, there are an estimated 11 million underage drinkers in the United States. Of those, 7.2 million are considered “binge drinkers,” which means they have at least five drinks in each sitting. Binge drinking can also lead to other health risks, including drunk driving and unsafe sex.

Critics of Peele think that letting kids drink is the opposite of what parents should be doing. They see supplying them with alcohol as a cause of alcoholism, not a cure for it.

Not that I’ve met any of these people at the bar recently, but I’m pretty sure they are the same people who are too afraid to give high school students condoms in health class, or think that prohibiting violent video games will end school shootings.

They are probably also the ones who are naive enough to think that ignoring problems are the way to solve them.

America’s legal view on drinking is ridiculous. In the United States, kids can smoke cigarettes, buy a shotgun, drive a car and vote for president before they can drink.

All of these activities are potentially more dangerous than a few social drinks with friends. But instead of controlling it, legislators would rather pretend that everybody has their first taste of alcohol on their 21st birthday.

Oh, and they can also go to war. It’ll take more than a few beers to make that look fair or attractive.

Whether we want to admit it or not, drinking is a part of college culture. It’s not the only part, but it cannot be ignored. Sporting events, minor celebrations and obscure holidays – like Wednesday – become venues for consumption.

Every weekend, college kids all over the country drink too much, make bad decisions, wake up miserable, apply Band-Aids and, after washing it all down with Advil and Gatorade, prepare to do it all over again.

Just like the after-school specials told us, some people drink because of peer pressure. An unfortunate amount of people drink to relieve stress or to solve problems, which can often lead to dependencies.

However, the most shocking part of the binge-drinking epidemic that nobody wants to talk about is the actual reason why most of us drink: Because it’s fun.

No, it’s not the only way to have a good time. And too much of a good thing can turn situations sour very quickly. But the biggest myth that older people have about college life is that only alcoholics drink too much. The truth is, most of us don’t drink because we need to. We do it because we want to. We do it because it’s fun.

And if parents would listen to Stanton Peele, there would be no problem with that. Introducing children to alcohol at young ages is more than just letting them drink.

It involves teaching them of the responsibilities that go along with the privileges. Instead of telling children not to drink, isn’t it more effective for parents to sit them down and explain the importance of moderation, hydration and designated drivers?

Waiting for our nation’s children to end up in either a hospital bed or a jail cell before talking to them about the dangers of binge drinking is doing nothing but fueling your ignorance.

Kids are going to drink no matter what, but some decent parenting could potentially prevent dangerous situations.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” It may be up to parents to decide how happy their underage-drinking children are going to be.

To drink or not to drink? E-mail Sam at seg23@pitt.edu.