Essay, Research Paper: A Sober Education

One of the greatest disputes in colleges today is whether or not alcoholic beverages should be allowed on campus. It is known that there are a significant amount of colleges that do allow drinking on campus. Obviously, there are many students who believe that drinking should not be outlawed throughout their college life. However, a majority of college residents tend to forget that they are not of legal age. Although many of my peers may disagree, I strongly believe that all colleges should be dry campuses.
Many people, both college administration and students, may feel that allowing alcoholic beverages on campus keeps the students in a safer community. They claim that this prevents the residents from leaving campus and drinking at other various places which could place the students in danger. However, I feel that having a wet campus only promotes more drinking among the students. The colleges seem to be hypocrites by allowing drinking on campus since they repeatedly remind us how one can have fun in college without drinking. Therefore, it seems that students are in more danger on campus since they are allowed to drink in the comfort of their own home.
Larger colleges and universities claim they allow drinking on campus because of the vast amount of students who attend. They feel if they had a dry campus, there would be a great deal of drinking on campus. Therefore, these colleges allow students to drink on campus because they feel it would be too difficult to monitor. I can see their reasoning behind this, however I feel that there is another solution that could be used. Colleges need to enforce stricter penalties on students who use alcohol on dry campuses. They should follow in the practice of one strike and you're out. Therefore, if they assess harsher penalties, they should be able to cut the amount of drinking on dry campus tremendously.
The number one problem with allowing college students to consume alcoholic beverages on campus is that they are not twenty-one years of age. With under age drinking already being a major problem in our country, why should we be allowing our students to drink illegally. It seems to me that colleges are giving their residents the right of way to use alcohol. Obviously, many of these underage teens may drink anywhere, but when a college has a wet campus, it seems to promote drinking to a higher degree.
I believe that when there is a wet campus, the college should be more liable for the accidents that happen because of alcohol. On the other hand, if there is a dry campus, we are told that it is our own risk to leave campus and engage in alcoholic beverages. The students of a dry campus realize that they are responsible for their own actions off campus. Therefore, most of these students are usually more cautious and in control of themselves. If campuses allow drinking, I feel that the college should be more responsible for the accidents that could possibly occur due to drinking on campus. Colleges with wet campuses should acknowledge the wide variety of problems, which could occur and therefore convert to dry campuses where most of the responsibility lies within the student.
This skeptical issue may never be fully agreed upon during my college stay. There will always be people who feel that wet campuses are safer for students as well as people who think that large universities can not control there alcohol usage. I believe that most people will agree that wet campuses seem to promote under age drinking. Campuses who allow drinking should be more liable for the problems that occur within the campus. Don't let your education be washed away by alcohol.


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