My group decided to make our controversy about the current drinking age. As college students, we are all surrounded by a drinking culture, making this a very relevant topic. We haven’t decided to focus on college campuses in our research, but we may end up doing something along those lines since college campuses are where most underage drinking occurs.
In our presentation, we plan to focus on three main framing questions. First, does the current law effectively prevent underage drinking? Second, does the law decrease dangerous alcohol-related behavior? And third, would lowering the drinking age result in more responsible decision-making?
I’m going to be interviewing a police officer and the main coordinator of SPA Late-Night (the activities held at the HUB from 10 pm – around 1 am on Fridays and Saturdays to give underage students something to do). I’ll also be researching general Pro/Con opinions and supporting material.
I think our topic will be very interesting if we can get a good amount of supporting material and footage. From what I’ve learned so far, there is both scientific evidence and data that support both sides of the argument, which is very interesting. Many people who are against lowering the drinking age cite the reasons why it was changed in the first place. Those who support the change cite European models as good examples.
I plan on finishing my interviews early next week so we can start to put together our videos as soon as possible.