May 15, 2008
TEEN EDITION EDITORIAL
Don't drink and be merry
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With prom this weekend, the top issue on every student’s mind isn’t how they’re going to fit in that dress, or whom they will take as their date or how much the limo is going to cost. It’s the Breathalyzers (the devices that use a person’s breath to measure his blood alcohol level) awaiting them at the front door. The issue of student drinking and the Breathalyzer policy implemented as a deterrent have been addressed time and time again in publications from Darien High School’s student newspaper to, most recently, The New York Times.
After speaking with a diverse group of students about the issue, it seems there is a small minority not railing against the injustice of having to breathe into a plastic straw for five seconds to see if you’ve been partaking in the demon rum. But the Breathalyzer policy is not a gross invasion of your bodily integrity or your rights as a student and as an American.
The current drinking age of 21 has the same effect on drinking patterns as Prohibition did in the 1920s: If people can’t get booze legally, they’ll just find another way to get it, and once they get it, they’ll drink it in excess. It’s a Prohibition only nominally, and it’s highly ineffective. When we’re raised with this notion that alcohol is a mysterious and evil substance, once we get our hands on it, we want to test its limits. That makes it all the more dangerous. But that’s a separate issue.
The school has every right to govern what goes on within its jurisdiction, and that includes dances. Even if the drinking age were 18, the school could still make a rule saying that drinking is prohibited. It’s not an invasion of your rights if you’re already breaking the law in the first place.
Also consider the “Catch-22” the school was presented. When they singled people out and tested them, the ones they caught complained that other kids who were drinking were getting away with it. The school had two options: single people out for Breathalyzing who appeared to be intoxicated, and run the risk of not catching those who can hold their liquor better, or Breathalyze everyone and face student backlash and lose attendance from dances because those who can’t abstain from drinking to go to a school dance will want to take their partying elsewhere
Darien High School students might look at this writing as Puritanical: Not only are we following the drinking laws, we are — horror of horrors — supporting the school administration’s policy. But, the way I see it, the administration was picking the lesser of two evils when it implemented the Breathalyzer policy. It was either single people out (which is not fair at all) or have everyone do it. Inconvenient? Yes. A bit presumptive about students’ drinking habits? Yes. But surrendering five seconds of your precious time to prove you’re abiding by the law and school rules — at least for the duration of the dance — isn’t a resurgence of McCarthyism as many seem to imply.
So, Darien High School students, we present two solutions to the Breathalyzer dilemma: 1. Quit your bellyaching and just comply with the policy. If enough people are cooperative for enough time, the administration might loosen the reins a little. 2. Don’t go to the dance if you feel you need alcohol to have any fun.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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