Choosing a place to travel for spring break can be daunting. Suddenly more options appear, and traveling with family becomes one of many choices. Scenery and culture can be strong motivators, but 64 percent (192/296) of students surveyed said they would drink if traveling to a country with a lower drinking age.
“I think for a teenager that wants to drink there would be incentive to go to a different country,” Chad Walton, school resource officer, said.
Some students do not plan on drinking over spring break even if the drinking age is lower.
Brian Verbarg, senior, is traveling to Italy over spring break on a school-sponsored trip and does not plan on drinking.
“No [I’m not going to drink],” Verbarg said. “But if you have to sign up for the draft and register to vote then you should be able to drink.”
Students who have traveled to places like Spain encountered very different social experiences.
“I knew before going that the drinking age was lower [in Spain],” an anonymous senior girl said. “[I drank with] the family I stayed with.”
Many countries in Europe have lower drinking ages and some require only adult permission for underage people to drink alcohol.
“The responsibility is still on the adult to supervise any underage drinking,” Walton said.
Though teenagers may drink with adult permission in Europe, the age to purchase alcohol is 18 in many places.
“It was a lot more casual,” the senior girl said. “It wasn’t like, ‘get wasted,’ more like ‘enjoy.’”
Europe is the heaviest drinking region in the world, according to the European Commission Health Directorate, and alcohol is responsible for at least 195,000 deaths per year. There has also been a reported rise in underage drinking.
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 5,000 people under the age of 21 die each year due to alcohol related accidents, homicides and suicides in the United States.
“I went to Spain for the culture,” the senior girl said. “And drinking wasn’t a huge part of the culture, like it is here.”
Davis Williams • Apr 8, 2011 at 2:39 pm
The adult brain doesn’t fully develope until the mid to late twenties. So already, the drinking age is too low if you’re trying to keep peoples mental health safe. Kids will always find a way to drink, and go to extremes that will get them what they want. Since a large populous of the country is under 21 and a large percent of them between 14 and 21 drink, I would say that the govt. is neglecting its duties to abide by the will of the people. Especially given the fact that most adults drink and have drank before the legal age. Kids that get too drunk and get into a sticky situation can’t call for help to parents or cops alike for fear of consequences, AND an M.I.P. can ruin a persons college transcript. Lets stop trying to target kids trying to blow off some steam.