<p>Well, at many schools all dorms are "non-drinking" dorms because you can't drink there. This is enforced more strictly on some campuses than others.</p>
<p>But that doesn't prevent students with alcohol in their bodies from being present in the dorms. They go drink elsewhere and then come home and vomit or make noise or otherwise make nuisances of themselves.</p>
<p>Hornet: I agree completely. Kids aren't evil; they just want to relax and have fun. And, they don't know how. </p>
<p>Another aspect - I had a conversation about this topic with a friend who is a pediatrician, and he said that a lot of kids who should have counseling and possibly even medication,
are self-medicating with drugs and alcohol.</p>
<p>"a lot of kids who should have counseling and possibly even medication,
are self-medicating with drugs and alcohol."</p>
<p>Yes, why should they be any different from adults on that score?</p>
<p>"why should they be any different from adults on that score?"</p>
<p>Because it's prime time to learn a different skill-set...</p>
<p>BTW, I find the expressions "self-medicating", and "skill set" irritating.</p>
<p>Kid's just want to have fun. Done correctly some drinking and partying can be lots of fun without many dire consequences. You just have to learn your limitations. You have 40 odd long years after college to sober up and become a good working citizen. Even in grad school most most students are tapering down from what they did as undergrads.</p>
<p>
[quote]
She speculates that some of the heavy drinkers may have been so overstructured in their HS extracurricular lives and so focused on top grades and scores in HS that they failed to develop normal social coping skills.
[/quote]
I think most of the heavy drinkers were drinking in HS as well.</p>
<p>Hanna and Shrinkrap: Yes and YES. They should be different because we have talked their ears off. And, Shrinkrap, it is self-medicating for goodness sakes. What else would you call children escaping by destroying brain cells?</p>
<p>"What else would you call children escaping by destroying brain cells?"</p>
<p>I would call it "children escaping by destroying brain cells"</p>
<p>when I said I find the expression "self-medicating" ...... irritating.</p>
<p>I didn't want to get into it... I just meant I don't like it when it seems to justify self-destructive behavior.</p>
<p>I Have cousin younger than I by 5 years, I graduated college in 1987. The amount of binge drinking difference in those 5 years was astronomical, the entire culture acceptance was entirely different, especially for females. She was at the beginning of the "Girls Gone Wild mentality. Fast forward to now, she as well as her friends all in high powered Wall Street jobs, the drinking has continued, she has said at business meetings that require overnights, many a female coworker has gotten stuff slipped into their drinks, they are mid to late 30's age wise. I don't see them stopping now, they are all functioning alkies.</p>
<p>Samiamy - </p>
<p>Your comments confirm my impression of the differences between now and then. When I was in college (graduated in '80), I was a "partier" but our partying was more innocent silliness than wildness. I also remember that while there was an occasional episode of throwing up and more episodes of hangovers in the morning, it was not as prevalent as I am hearing now. This may be true now but I also remember that after freshman year, partying trickled down and most of the students at my school became much more focused on academics. </p>
<p>Tragically, I have observed the same trend towards binge drinking and "girls done wild" mentality in our high school. A huge majority of the students at my d's high school drink and the stories are frightening. Again, I rarely missed a "kegger" in high school but most of the girls were very tame... a beer or two and that was it. I am not condoning drinking in high school at any level but just commenting on the differences I see and I am wondering what changed. Perhaps the more sexually explicit TV, music, and movies that our children are watching promote more provocative and extreme behavior??? Compared to "Brady Bunch" and "The Partridge Family" the type of exposure to Sex that our children have now is X rated.</p>
<p>Raising daughters, I have found that keeping them busy and focused in a positive way on their sport, along with lots of open conversation has kept my girls out of trouble. But that is oversimplifying
every child is different and every situation is different. I do feel that sending them off to college with a strong base of values and confidence is important.
Its interesting
reading many of the posts on this site, I have a sense that most of the parents on this forum have raised very responsible young adults
not perfect but certainly not in the category of extreme binge drinking. What brought many of us to this site was a deep interest in the success of our children and that interest has probably guided the way we have raised our children.</p>
<p>barron: "Kid's just want to have fun. Done correctly some drinking and partying can be lots of fun without many dire consequences. You just have to learn your limitations."</p>
<p>That sounds almost exactly like that other kid that used to be on CC, the one that went to Cornell (or was it Dartmouth) and one weekend went down to UVa to party. He too was positive that he knew how to drink safely-- and apparently he had had a lot of practice. But he didn't know as much as he thought he did. He died of alcohol poisoning. We parents are rightly skeptical of teenagers who think they know everything.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Kid's just want to have fun. Done correctly some drinking and partying can be lots of fun without many dire consequences. You just have to learn your limitations
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Before or after the alcohol induced sexual assault or car wreck? I guess that is just part of "learning limitations," right?</p>
<p>You can now watch the movie "Haze" in its entirety. Go to </p>
<p>The</a> Gordie Foundation - Home</p>
<p>and follow the links to watch the movie. It is a terrifying, tragic movie about the drinking and hazing culture on campuses. I watched it but I did not come away with any great ideas about what to do about the problem. (other than have my daughter watch this movie before she goes to college) I would love to hear what others have to say about the movie. I believe Gordie Bailey was a friend of a long-time poster on CC, xiggi.</p>
<p>yorkyfan,</p>
<p>I made my daughter view the website, the film wasn't available several months ago I don't think but the photos of other passed out college kids who soiled themselves with vomit and wet pants were. Left an impression on her for sure. Whether she incorporates it into her behavior and stays clear of it, time will tell.</p>
<p>At my heavy drinking school with 40,000 students in the last 40 years or so more people have died from riding bikes, falling through ice, local terrorist bombings and probably bees stings than drinking. Yes, if you really overdo it you can die. But considering reality and with a little self-control you can go out and have a good time and come home fine.</p>
<p>Binge Drinking. Though most college drinkers would deny it, young people do die solely from drinking. In 1995, 318 people ages 15 to 24 died from alcohol poisoning alone, man of them after a night binge at college. At the University of Virginia, a tradition that has seniors drinking a fifth of hard liquor at the final game of the football season (so-called “Fourth-year Fifth”) has killed 18 students since 1990. (3)
Teens</a> and Alcohol</p>
<p>At Barron's heavy drinking school, with more than 40,000 students, over the past 50 years, several tens of thousands of former students have died of complications related to alcohol abuse, the habit of which, for many, was acquired at college.</p>
<p>None of this is new.</p>
<p>I went to college in the early 1980's. 80% of the guys at my college were in frats. "Pub Nights" were nights where frats opened their bar room and served beer, usually to the brothers and their friends. My first two years, each of the 16 Frats on campus had a pub night every week. There were 4 pub nights each night, Monday - Thursday. Then on Friday and Saturday there were 2 - 3 large parties each night, open to everyone on campus. The ONLY dry night of the week was Sunday night.</p>
<p>The college decided to crack down. No more Pub Nights on Mondays and Tuesdays. Each frat could have a Pub Night every OTHER week, on Wed or Thurs. Sounds reasonable, right? The kids were furious. Somehow the college was stepping on their rights by prohibiting them from getting together with their friends for a few beers whenever they wanted to. (The drinking age in this state was 21). </p>
<p>But the frats weren't the only problem. I remember floors in dorms hosting "Around the World" parties, where each room would host a different mixed drink. The RA's would help the freshmen figure out what drink to offer from their room!</p>
<p>None of this is new. We're just old enough to know better. And these young'uns, shouldn't they have figured it out by now? We forget that we did the same thing. Doesn't make it right, or smart. But doesn't make it new, either.</p>
<p>BTW, I didn't drink and I had a great time at this college. I found a group of like-minded friends. We went to frat parties to dance and enjoy the music. To this day, I still don't drink beer....</p>
<p>There are more abstainers today than when you were in college (mostly a function of a higher percentage of African-American, Hispanic, and Asian students, and the fact that the median age of college students today is 24.5 years - the 18-year-olds are statistical outliers). Drinking rates are lower than in the early 80s, a function of the higher drinking age. There are suggestions that there is more dangerous drinking now (read: hard liquor), though that is, in fact, unproven. (It may also relate to the fact that, in reality, many of the private prestige colleges are less socio-economically diverse than they were 25 years ago - and hence students can afford more hard liquor.)</p>