I just posted this to the NY Times bulletin board. I think it pretty well sums up my opinion on the matter, although I think it's more complicate than their characters would permit. The problem is that we're looking at this from the wrong perspective. The question isn't whether alcohol should be permitted in Frats, it's whether it should be permitted at all.
We have a serious situation where young adults have never seen alcohol, never tasted it, always feared it, and always believed those who say it's evil. This is a dichotomous situation, and it's no wonder that no one believes us when we say that "this is bad" and really mean it.
It's a signal-to-noise problem. We're so busy demonizing absolutely everything, including the most trivial peccadilloes, that when we must really be heard, such as with cocaine, PCP, and steroids, everyone just hears Peter crying wolf. How do we expect credibility when we say that alcohol is bad on the day before the 21 st birthday but good the next?
In the last three years of studying abroad, I have never met a European who drinks to get drunk. I've met plenty who drink until they're drunk, but never a single one whose sole purpose is to be plastered, pissed, destroyed, or any other colorful euphemism for "inebriated". That's not to say that they don't exist, or that there's not a serious alcohol abuse problem-- there is-- but to say that the maturity with which they approach alcohol is far greater than ours.
Other nations' children have been around alcohol since childhood, and thus react normally to it when finally on their own. This is in contrast to our youth who start off in an absolute void, and thus go overboard when first introduced to alcohol, just as every one of us does when presented with a new experience. It's only human nature to push the limits when exploring new ground. So either ban alcohol completely anyone remember the colossal failure that was Prohibition?
