As I read Better, I realize that there are a lot of parallels between what Gawande has written and things that we experience everyday albeit on a different scale. There are a lot of topics that we can relate to ourselves. We discussed in class about the hand-washing and the eradication of polio. Both are important to the global population but appear to be impossible to implement. Especially the part about eradicating polio, there are many more disease out there in the world that need to be eradicated. In the same section of Better, many people mentioned that diarrhea kills many more children in India than polio. Instead of spending millions of dollars trying to wipe off polio from the world, it might be better to create better sewage and irrigation systems, or improve nutrition among the children. In addition, cases of malaria and TB are more prominent and deserve recognition too. I agree with Pankaj’s response that the eradication of polio is worthwhile.
Rather than attempting to solve everything at once, it may be a better idea to improve the world’s situation one item at a time. An example of problems that we face close to us is underage drinking. Especially on a college campus, there are many underage students who drink alcohol. Police bust parties every year and fine drunk students on the streets. Yet, these actions taken by the law do not seem to affect the population. There are many contributors to this problem. Bars admit students above 19 years of age, however only those over 21 may drink. Those underage are constantly in the presence of those drinking and may occasionally get an urge to try it. There are many more factors including the media, and peer pressure.
There have been many attempts to try and reduce the number of people who drink underage. The campus sponsors a yearly program where incoming freshman must attend. The program details danger of underage drinking and the legal penalties that are imposed. Many organizations have advertisements that caution people at drinking and driving. A few of these are targeted at the underage population. This problem is so serious that even high schools hold seminars every year. The many groups have poured in millions of dollars to educate children from an early age.
Then again, I don’t think the problem is just that someone below legal age is consuming alcohol. The detrimental effects of drinking are just that the person easily loses their judgment and their reaction time slows down. The ultimate aim of these groups is to prevent alcoholism and accidents. These programs are initiated to help people be more conscious of their actions and to prevent any unnecessary harm that they can do while impaired. You often hear stories of drunk drivers killing others while remaining relatively unharmed. For example, most countries in Europe have a different legal drinking age limit imposed. They can drink at 16 however, they can only drive after they are 18. It is also known that those countries don’t have as big a problem on underage drinking as the United States.
Actually, things have improved with the combined effects of many organizations. Although many incidents still continue to happen, the population is more aware of the ill effects of alcohol. It is quite impossible to eliminate underage consumption however, the situation is slightly better after their efforts.
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Sorry for posting a little late. I went home for the weekend and it was long bus ride.
ReplyDeleteUnderage drinking is an interesting issue. I wonder if the issue is as pronounced at universitites where students commute to campus and continue to live at home. Living away from one's parents obviously gives more freedom of choice for the students. Learning to use that freedom responsibly is important. Perhaps some kids need to make mistakes to learn this. Others may have already mastered that lesson. It would be interesting to learn about other variables that correlate with underage drinking (parental income, racial and religious differences, etc.) I do think there is a difference between youthful experimentation versus escape. That goes hand in hand with college as opportunity for students to learn versus college as a source of stress and anguish from performance anxiety and a focus on college as a passport to the good life. If you could actually measure student perception on that, it would be interesting to see how it correlates with their drinking.
ReplyDeleteThe very real issue of drunk driving notwithstanding, I tend to think of underage drinking as a victimless crime. To the extent that is a good interpretation, it makes the underage drinking issue different from the doctors' hand washing in hospitals.
When I was in college, the drinking age in many states was 18 rather than 21. Another interesting question to look at is whether the data on underage drinking supports the presumed benefit from the higher drinking age.
It's interesting that we are the country with the biggest problems with underage drinking, and also the one with the oldest legal drinking age. I think what you talked about with peer pressure, media, etc. supports the abundance of underage drinking in the US. Even if the drinking age were lowered, there would still be the experimentation/escape issue that occurs in college.
ReplyDeleteBut college-drinking seems to be more of a victim-less crime than drinking at any other age, even when it's legal. Students in college are less likely to drive because they live on campus. I think the biggest danger occurs in high school if people are drinking for the first time and driving home, ignorant of the effects of alcohol.
Also, I think if the drinking age were lowered to 18, it would be tempting for all the 14-15 year olds. Similar to how 19 year olds can go to bars but not drink, 14-15 year olds in high school would see the seniors drinking and be tempted.
Tiffany hit it right on the head according to what I was going to say - I also agree that drinking is the least of our problems on a college campus. Many underage students, especially at a university as prestigious as Illinois, are able to have a healthy balance of expanding their mind while also having time to drink with friends. I agree with you that drunk driving is horrible, but in a type of environment like college it doesn't really apply as much as it would to say, young professionals in Lincoln Park. Still, informative!
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