Going to College: The Initiation Point

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Going to college is a big part of a person’s early life; it is a time where a student can get away from their parents and learn about the kind of person they will become. Unfortunately, the moment a student starts their freshmen year they are thrown into a feeling of obligation by their peers to consume alcohol; 4 out of 5 students will become statistics for college drinking including those under the age of twenty-one (NIAAA). There is a clear issue that needs to be addressed, for these students are our future leaders. There is an epidemic of irresponsible college drinkers that needs to be addressed by creating less pressure from peers and creating schools that teach their students about safe drinking habits, only when these two things are done will there be less issues present among college students and their drinking.
To begin, there are many negative consequences that both affect a college student’s personal and academic life when a college student begins to drink. Each year an estimated 1,825 students between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four die in alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents (Wachler); these statistics are clearly demonstrated in Rob Waldron’s article ”Students are dying”, Waldron was affected by four accidents where alcohol was involved, three of which the intoxicated driver died, including his brother Ryan (3). Assault and sexual abuse rates are greatly increased when alcohol is consumed; each year an estimated 696,000 students are assaulted by another student who had been drinking and another 97,000 students become victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape (Wachler). Each year about 400,000 students admit to having unprotected sex when intoxicated while, another 100,000 report being too into...

... middle of paper ...

... college student. All this being said, not every new college student is doomed to becoming a drunk driver. Through my research I have come to the conclusion that the majority of college students who drink are responsible drinkers.

Works Cited
Barrow, Clyde and Breslin, Pat “Should Faculty Do More to Curb Student Alcohol Abuse?”.
Interpretations. Tammy L. Montgomery. San Francisco: Persons Education, 2005. 284- 287. Print.
E-mail interview. 23 Apr. 2014.
Shalala, Donna E. "College Drinking - Alcohol Alert No. 29-1995." College Drinking – Alcohol
Alert No. 29-1995. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
Wachler, H.J. "College Drinking." National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).
N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
Waldron, Rob. “Students Are Dying; Colleges Can Do More”. Interpretations. Tammy L.
Montgomery. San Francisco: Persons Education, 2005. 282-284. Print.

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