<p>I don't think binge drinking on college campuses is any greater than it was when I was in college. Same with the drug scene. In fact, visiting schools with my daughter, I've seen lots of campuses where binge drinking is actually much less than what I experienced.</p>
<p>Back in the early 1970's, I went to school in a town with 52 bars. The legal drinking age at that time was 18. The big "game" among college kids was to try to hit every bar in a single night and have at least one drink (on thursday nights, many of the bars had 50 cent shots.) I actually know of at least two people who made it to all 52 bars in a single night. And, yes, I remember lots of vomit. There were also PLENTY of drugs on campus in those days, including pot, LSD, heroin, and cocaine. Ecstasy was also around, although not as available as now. After two years, I transferred to a different school that had/has something of a party-school reputation. Ironically, I found there was much less partying there, but by then I was a junior and well beyond the need to drink myself into a stupor in order to prove myself socially worthy so I wasn't really seeking it out.</p>
<p>I think much depends on where your child will be going to college and his/her own attitudes about drinking and drugs. Some schools have a bigger drinking culture than others, just like some schools have a bigger drug culture than others. Freshmen, in particular, seem to have a need to go wild with drink (and in some cases drugs), but most kids (not all) settle down eventually. This hasn't changed in 30 years.</p>
<p>When I was in college (late 60s and early 70s), there were a lot of drugs, and I pretty much used them all. There was drinking too, most of it reserved for weekends, especially football weekends. Very rare was there heavy drinking during the week. In four years, I think I remember one student being taken to the infirmary for alcohol poisoning; a few more for drugs, but far below the level my alma mater reports now. Vomit was relatively infrequent - actually, after my first year, I don't remember witnessing it even once (though, to be fair, my house was filled with druggies.)</p>
<p>One of the other reasons I tend to believe the Wechsler numbers (actually think they are underestimates for reasons already stated), is that I know of four cases where the colleges have conducted their own surveys to complement the Harvard studies. In each case, the incidence of binge drinking they came up were higher than those reported by Wechsler.</p>
<p>
[quote]
One of the other reasons I tend to believe the Wechsler numbers (actually think they are underestimates for reasons already stated), is that I know of four cases where the colleges have conducted their own surveys to complement the Harvard studies. In each case, the incidence of binge drinking they came up were higher than those reported by Wechsler.
[/quote]
But do they not also follow the format of the "Harvard" (i.e., Wechsler) studies, with all of its flaws?</p>
<p>interesteddad- That's Dartmouth Students. There's nothing else to DO at Dartmouth.</p>
<p>My instinct tells me to believe the same thing of binge drinking that is true of many other issues... it is not that the statistics have increased so much as it is the attention paid to them by the media has.</p>
<p>No, I'm with Mini on this one. I was at Williams a few years after him. I don't recall seeing people puking in large numbers. In fact, it was considered rather uncool to drink to you puke.</p>
<p>I'm not arguing that college kids have not always "partied" or that "partying" is necessarily a horrible thing. But, there does seem to be an aggressiveness and competitiveness in college drinking these days that is quite distruptive to campus life for those who are not heavy drinkers.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Its my understanding that even if they didn't provide it- that parents would be liable as homeowners if any accident occured after leaving the house. I think it is also illegal to facilitate drinking by minors not your own.
[/quote]
In our county, the DA announced, during Prom and graduation season, that any parents "hosting" in this way would be arrested. PSA's ran frequently to this effect, indicating that local authorities would, in fact, be on the lookout. It will take a lot of this approach to get the message across and have the desired effect but I, for one, am all in favor. There have been ample instances of teens at such "hosted" parties becoming so intoxicated that hospitalization was required. Drinking and Driving is a dangerous tragedy. But it is not the ONLY problem with teen binge drinking. These parent "hosts" are missing a big part of the picture.</p>
<p>
[quote]
No, I'm with Mini on this one. I was at Williams a few years after him. I don't recall seeing people puking in large numbers. In fact, it was considered rather uncool to drink to you puke.
[/quote]
When was the last time you saw students puking in large numbers at any college?</p>
<p>Yup. Guess those college administrators at my alma mater lie to me about all of those overnight infirmary admits for alcohol poisoning. Good publicity and all that. Attracts students and parents. Trustees like to be called away on surplus weekends to deal with it - what else of use can they do with all that spare time on their hands? It's what they do for fun!</p>
<p>I haven't seen anybody vomiting myself, since it's been a while since I spent a weekend on a college campus, but when I asked my daughter how often she sees public vomit, she said, "Oh every weekend, at least." And this is a kid who prefers board games (Settlers of Catan, anyone?) to partying. Eww, gross.</p>
<p>Drinking is a legitimate issue on practically any campus in the country. The candidness and forthrightness with which schools deal with the issue varies, as does the aggressiveness with which various administrations encourage students to take their friends to the infirmary at any sign of possible distress. I don't know of any controlled study by which one can accurately compare alchohol use/abuse from school to school, and neither does anyone here. The dean of Mini's alma mater acknowledged exactly that in the recently released report.</p>
<p>Seeing someone throw up practically every weekend is unfortunate and regrettable, but it's a far cry from saying that it's majority behavior.</p>
<p>My college/grad career spanned the late 60's-early 80's with some work stops in between. Drugs were much bigger than drinking in the early period. Mostly pot with some psychedlics for special treats. Drinking was mostly reserved for the occasional big frat party and unofficial bar mixers with a sorority we were tight with and that was just a few beers on Thursday night. By the late 70's-early 80's drinking was much bigger and pot was rare. Coke was around but too spendy for most students. The thing that seems different now is that I hardly ever saw fights or major property damage by drunk students. Going back now I see it a lot. There seem to be a lot more meatheads in the male student population today.</p>
<p>I would really recommend the book Binge by Barrett Seaman. It has been discussed elsewhere on this forum. I think it is a real eye-opener as to what college drinking encompasses these days. The material is presented in a factual and non-sensationalist manner and the author does a good job of contrasting the college scene today with that of past generations. It also covers a lot of other aspects of college life such as date rape, depression and eating disorders.</p>
<p>Im currently a student at a top 20 university and think that the numbers in the Dartmouth survey seem low. I'm a social person who goes out almost every weekend night (thursday/friday/saturday) and still have a high GPA in a tough major. I know (not just talking about good friends) a total of zero people (yes i said zero) who do not binge drink as its technically defined at least on occasion. On a different note i dont think that hard drugs arent as big a probablem as you guys thing becasue i really dont know anyone who does them (with the exception of marijuana). In college, you'll see people vomit but not so much in the public ways that people are talking about (most have enough control to make it to a toilet. From talking to my parents i dont think all that much has changed. My dad went to an Ivy league school, partied alot and is now a CEO. He even told me a story about a college friend who is now president of a prominent national company who had the reputation of drinking and getting sick alot, even to the point of vommiting on dates at date parties. </p>
<p>My advice to parents is to just tell thier kids to try to be responsible about their drinking and to stick with friends. Just becasue kids drink heavily in college does not always mean that it will negatively effect thier grades. Also, I dont think that many parents would want thier kids to be like the ones with out much of a social life that sit in their rooms on weekend nights playing video games. Thats not what college is about. In addition to getting an education, college should be a great 4 years where you make friends and memories that will last your whole life (i know thats how its been for me so far).</p>
<p>On a final note...alcohol poisoning is the least prevalent problem with alcohol...I know it happens on occasion but i've never seen it (and trust me ive seen hundreds of kids blackout). The biggest problem is trama injuries and fight injuries that people can get from not having the greatest motor skills.</p>
<p>"It was the 70's though and it was easier to get drugs than alcohol- plus the alcohol was likely to be nasty stuff- like Southern Comfort or Boones Farm..."</p>
<p>Wrong, it was Southern Comfort (which still I love) and Cold Duck! Back in the day, a guy on my dorm floor was from Louisville, KY and brought a case of SC with him. Needless-to-say, he was very popular!</p>
<p>My RA placed me on house arrest once for walking down the hallway drunk and acting up, with an open bottle of SC in my hand. RAs pretty much didn't care what you did (sex, drugs or alcohol) as long as it was behind closed doors. My vomiting was limited to the community restroom and library restroom (morning after work-study job was there).</p>
<p>Now days though, you have to be careful where you walk, especially around a movie theater or fast food parking lot, because some young person (17-22) is always vomiting on Friday and Saturday nights.</p>
<p>We old folks always want youth to learn from our mistakes, but they never do.</p>
<p>I think the campus culture in the late-'60s-1973 (the Vietnam era) was very different from the mid-'70s. Most states had an 18-year-old drinking age (if you can die in Vietnam, you should be able to drink), which meant that there were more eyes on students who were drinking. I can remember being told to stop drinking for the night by more than one "bartender" (fellow student working on the other side of the counter). </p>
<p>After Vietnam ended, there was a national malaise, inflation was rampant, unemployment shot up (in MA, when I graduated in 1975, the unemployment rate was 12%). People worried about a lot more than drinking. It's also my memory that I simply couldn't afford to drink much.</p>
<p>Consequences seem much higher now for drinking. With a national .08% blood alcohol level defining drunk driving, with zero-tolerance laws for minors in many states (i.e., any blood alcohol at all means you lose your drivers' license to age 21 or 25), with Minor-in-Possession laws, I know more than a few kids who would have been fine legally in the '70s and '80s who are now looking at having a record. It is this set of legal consequences that I think drives campus drinking underground, where older adults have little influence and can't help with safety and health issues.</p>
<p>It seems this country's history is littered with pendulum swings on the subject of alcohol, from tolerance to prohibition to the nightly cocktail of the '50s and on forward. I would like to see a more moderate attitude. How about a 16-year-old drinking age for those accompanied by parents, an 19-year-old drinking age for those alone, zero tolerance on drunk driving (.05% perhaps) for everyone?</p>