One scene will be freshman drinking in the dorms. This is freshman male student living in east halls and I know that anytime there is loud music coming from his room on a weekend night they are starting to pregame. Right around 8:30-9 o’clock I go knock on the door with the music blasting and I am let in to the madness. I see the desk, that was used earlier as a place to study, is now taken over by shot glasses and chasers. All the people in the room greet me with a smile like they welcome everyone to come drink in the room. I am bombarded with all the choices that I have to drink. There is rum, vodka, and beer with every item being the cheapest brand one can get. This gathering in the room is call pre-gaming, which is when people start drinking before they go out. I observe the room and see people drinking different amounts. There are the two guys that just keep pounding the shots of rum down because they just want to get wasted every night. Then there are guys that just want a little to have a social lubricate. There are also three girls in the room and the girls take turns on being the most sober one just to look out for the others. After a few drinks, the clock turns to 10, which means it is time to head to the bus stop to go down town to the parties.
This quote is from a freshman male student in east halls named Rami Jabari and he does not underage drink. “I am not bothered by other kids drinking, but I’m disappointed that they take advantage that they are in college so its okay that they can drink.”
This quote is from a freshman male student in east halls that does not want his name to be mentioned. “Drinking is ok if you are just responsible and don’t do anything stupid. I feel that most kids here are good enough to drink, but there are one of 1000 kids that just stupid and mess things up and cause problems for others.”
This quote is from a freshman female student in east halls that does not want her name to be mentioned. “Drinking is fine as long as you can control yourself. I know its bad its just everyone does is. We are in college that’s what we do. It just needs too be in moderation.”
“More than 90% of this alcohol is consumed in the form of binge drinks.” This is from http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/underage-drinking.htm and it is saying that 90% of underage drinking is binge drinking. Another facts is “72% of 12th graders had tried alcohol.”
Graham Spanier gave a testimony, which I got from http://president.psu.edu/testimony/articles/underage.html. He stated, “Half of all of our students are heavy users of alcohol.” Another fact he claimed “More than half of students who use alcohol said they drink to get drunk.”
I feel I need to interview people with authority like a policeman, RA or Res Life faculty. This will give me another view that freshman might not see because their influences near them. I would get more facts and the actually problems drinking causes on an average night. I also should research more about the culture and tradition of drinking at Penn State. Because values of people that are for drinking may come from parents at home or just from the image that college is the only time the have to have fun and drink like this.
No comments:
Post a Comment