GE217: Composition - II - DE - V5.0 > Week 2 > Lesson 1: Reading Arguments: Thinking Like a Critic > Assignment > Major Writing Assignment > Jason McWilliams

Article Title: How Bingeing Became the New College Sport. Written by Barret Seaman 8/29/2005 in Canada. I think I can expect to read information on college students binge drinking. I also think I will read a writers opinion on how he feels about this subject in relation to binge drinking on college campuses.

The topic of this article is related around college students and how they basically prepare during the start of their freshman year for the activities that will begin to take place that revolve around drinking. The author claims that not only is this a problem but this is a problem that began after they raised the legal drinking age across the U.S. in the 1980's. The authors point of view around the subject reflects that of a sense of urgency to move back to a previous dated time in where the drinking age of 18 proved to show more responsibility and less issue with bingers.

As far as my experience goes with binge drinking on college campus I have very little. Most of my experience with this comes from getting invited to college parties with friends who attended as I have never attended a college university that required me to be on campus or near dorms. I have seen first-hand what binge drinking can do to someone though. People that consume as much alcohol as humanly possible in a short amount of time do usually make it long enough to enjoy the party. I have had a friend pass away because of this. It is almost as if it becomes a game to see who can get drunk the quickest and to be honest in my opinion this kind of ruins the whole aspect of having a good time. I have personally had to carry people out of parties and take them home, help someone in a restroom that is getting sick because they drank too much all while only being at a party for an hour. How can this be fun? I cannot see justifying this action as it really takes away from the idea of drinking socially for a good time. You are not having a good time if you can remember the things you have said or done the night before.

This article discusses the issue of binge drinking on college campuses and how it has basically become a tradition for freshman across the globe. Seaman discusses how age appropriateness has been a big issue with the U.S. and that part of the reason for this fad of binge drinking gone overboard is due to the stature of the legal drinking age. With questions not only by the author but by deans and presidents at universities around the country it is a wonder if this raise to the age of 21 has helped or hindered this influence to drink in large moderations in short periods of time. If the legal drinking age is pushed back to where it was at the age of 18 is it possible that we will see less of any issue? The author believes through visiting a college in Canada in where the legal drinking age is 18 that the tend to go overboard is there in the beginning but then it tapers off as the school year goes on due to the fact that the academic demand must be met and the responsibility of the student begins to show. All in all the idea is that because of the change in drinking age as a factor, has contributed to the issue at hand and has not prevented much if anything.