When I went off to college I was told that I was going to be faced with a lot of things. My dad told me that I was going to be asked to attend, that I was going to be around people doing illegal things, and that alcohol was going to be presented to me almost immediately.

I’m the type of person that doesn’t even have the slightest inclination to do that kind of thing. I don’t see myself doing that stuff, but at the same time I’m not against it.

People say that college kids are just children who are finally able to get away from their parents and are using that as an excuse to drink heavily. They say that college kids are drunk all the time and that we’re lower than everyone else because of that.

Heads up, just because college kids drink, doesn’t make them any lesser than the people around us. The last time I checked, most legal aged adults drank the same amount of alcohol that college kids do, the only difference is that they are legally allowed to do it and most college students aren’t.

Personally, I don’t see a reason to drink, I have a fear of not being in full control of my body and my emotions. But that means I’m the person who can make sure my friends get back safe and don’t harm themselves, and that’s something that I take with great pride.

I’ve been to parties during my few months in college, I’ve seen people from my year drink, and drink heavily, and I’m not bothered by it. Yes, I’m uncomfortable, but that’s how I am when I’m around people that I don’t know, and at that moment there were a couple people I had only known for a few weeks or so.

Drinking in college, or drinking under the legal age, is stigmatized as a bad thing. We’re constantly told that we’re not good kids as soon as we take a sip of alcohol, because we’re doing something illegal.

A twenty-year-old can drink and be called a delinquent, a law breaker, but the next day on their birthday they’re suddenly another citizen that enjoys alcohol.

Not to burst anyone’s bubble, but there is absolutely NO difference between those two days.

So what I don’t understand is why society tells everyone who drinks at any age before twenty one that they’re illegitimate and not worth it. We would progress so much further if we simply educated youth on how to drink safely and how to understand what their limit is than the consequences of under-age drinking wouldn’t be as severe.

My final point is why are we criticizing and not educating?