As a current college student who is considered "under age" for drinking I found this topic appealing to my life right now.  Also, growing up I was lucky enough to travel to thirteen different countries and have dual citizenship to the Netherlands where my entire family lives.  In Holland the drinking age is sixteen for beer and seventeen for hard alcohol.  Despite these lower ages I observed parties with less alcohol poisoning, poor drinking habits, and just alcohol related accidents in general.  Moreover, in Holland, and in my family there is a much more permissive parenting style.  They do not demonize the vices of the world but rather say it is up to the individual, which is the freedom that is common in the U.S.  Due to this quality experience with lower drinking age and the values that have been instilled in me, I hold the view that the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen in the United States.

To accomplish my goal of proving or changing my stance on drinking age I need credible sources to back my argument.  The first source I found in the drinking age debate was an article written for the Boston University Today by Robin Berghaus entitled, "Drinking 18 vs. 21".  Within this article two major forces in the Boston area on the debate for lowering or keeping drinking age were interviewed over the course of the piece.  Clearly, having two viewpoints set the stage for an argumentative article.  The main point in the article was the opposite views on how each drinking age is more beneficial.  For example, one subject being interviewed (William Dejong) felt that a high drinking age infantilizes college students and is unfair to treat them as incompetent when they can already vote, enlist, and operate a vehicle.  Also, he explains how the high age leads to the "disrespecting of the law," as a huge black market for fake ID's has erupted since the raising of the limit.  Meanwhile the other side (Barrett Seaman) argued that the 21 years of age drinking law cuts down on traffic fatalities and is ultimately better.  These two sides also occasionally agreed on certain points.  The credibility in this article is established because it is displayed in one of the most well respected college newspapers in the country and the two sides arguing have much experience with this debate.  However, since it is a college paper and many college students illegally drink, some bias may be tilted towards lowering the age requirement.

Another source I found to supplement my project was an article by an unknown author named, "Teen Drinking and Driving" which was published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).  As stated by the title the article was simply about how drinking and driving has changed since the increased drinking age.  The article used graphs and visuals to express that, "Drinking and driving among teens in high school has gone down by 54% since 1991. Still, high school teens drive after drinking about 2.4 million times a month," and that, "Teen drivers are 3 times more likely than more experienced drivers to be in a fatal crash. Drinking any alcohol greatly increases this risk for teens" (CDC 1).  Overall, the article takes the stance that the new law has helped in terms of traffic fatalities even though many teens still drink and sometimes drive.  This text will be used for me to build a counterargument and also allow me to treat the opposition fairly.  As for the credibility the statistics must be factual since the CDC is a government organization and is extremely well respected.

The third source I discovered was an article published by U.S News World & Report headlined, "Time to Lower the Drinking Age" by Mary Kate Cary.  As the article's title suggests the author shares a similar viewpoint to my own.  The article begins with an anecdote from the authors college years, when kegs and drinking were legal to college students.  She effectively paints a picture of how these legal parties were well patrolled and fostered better drinking habits.  She then delves into the history and legislation that was passed in the 1980's in order to increase the drinking age, and ends with a discussion on sexual assault and other drinking related crimes.  The main idea of this section is summed up when the author states, that she would much rather see her kid drinking in a supervised party than binging or doing drugs in a dorm room. Overall, the three main points are: reduce binge drinking, history (opposition in this section), and how lowering the age will reduce drinking and drinking related crimes. These add up to the main point of we should lower the drinking age.  The credibility of this author is also noteworthy as Ms. Cary used to be a White House speechwriter so her political insight is most likely trustworthy and she now writes for a notable news outlet.

In the end, this research question is one that is relevant, interesting, and above all else feasible and arguable.  The United States has been split ever since the change in age and there are more than plenty of sources to delve into, including ones on the library databases.  Some of the agreements and disagreements I found in the articles were that most who feel it should be lowered feel that if it is not it makes them feel un-adult and is trivial in comparison to other responsibilities they hold as young adults.  Meanwhile, the opposition feels that twenty-one is beneficial and cuts down on traffic fatalities.  In conclusion, through my first three sources my opinion and stance remains the same, and I believe my research question is simple but powerful.

