TEXT B Why do adults believe that
alcoholic awareness programs teach young people not to over-drink Recently,
reading an article about the alcohol-induced deaths of two students from two
different universalities in Colorado, I came across a theme on teen drinking
applicable to parents, school administration, and local government: they just
don’t get it①. To use a pun by New York Times
columnist Thomas Friedman, who changes WMD to PMD (people of mass destruction),
I call much of the adult generation PMNs—people of mass naiveté. I say this
because adults seem to believe that no child of theirs would touch alcohol
before 21. Since that’s unrealistic, the issue should be: bow can kids learn to
drink responsibly The answer: by practising. Like figuring out bow to throw a
baseball, a person needs to learn by trial and error. Now, I am
not proposing that under-age kids should have access to alcohol at all times,
but they will never known when they have reached their limit without drinking
alcohol first. Trust me, we feel when we have surpassed our limit.
It bas often been stressed to my generation that there should always be a
designated driver who does not drink. But, realistically, when people go to a
bar, are they not supposed to drink My friend, a willing designated driver, was
asked by a friend on the bar why he did not have a drink in his hand. He
responded, "I am driving." She then repeated her question while laughing. In
other words, college students face intense pressure to drink when they are out
socially, even though some manage to withstand it. The solution
I propose is two-fold. First, to parents: If you have children in high school,
understand that your kids will drink at parties. Despite the legal drinking age,
they will find a way to obtain beer or liquor. While you are home drinking this
holiday season, have a drink with your kids and their friends, or at the very
least, allow the to have a drink. Ensure they are safe, but also guarantee that
they know what they are doing. Please introduce them to alcohol before they go
off to college so that, on the first weekend, they don’t drink themselves into
the ER. They do this not because they want to drink to get drunk, but because
they do not know any better. Second, to lawmakers: How are
teenagers supposed to learn to drink responsibly when they cannot even drink
legally with their parents Having a drink with your parents at a restaurant is
a much more adult experience than drinking with them at home. The truth of the
matter is that almost all under-age drinking is done outside the home, in social
circles. So lawmakers should make an exception and allow teenagers, who are one
or two years under the drinking age and accompanied by their parents, to have a
drink at a restaurant②. Most of us live in an
environment that is geared toward drinking and overdrinking, and adults must
face this truth, ff they do not wake up and see reality, their kids one morning
might not wake up from a night of drinking. Who will be the most possible readers of this passage
A.Parents. B.Lawmakers and officials. C.Educators and supervisors. D.Under-age kids.