ipl-logo

Rhetorical Analysis: Joyce Alcantara's Mothers Against Drunk Driving

1789 Words8 Pages

Rhetorical Analysis This essay represents an effective piece of argumentation. The author states her purpose by saying teens are not mature enough to handle a lower age to legally drink alcohol. Tag? Joyce Alcantara tries to convince the readers that the age to legally drink should not be altered and assumes that the audience agrees that “Our youths today are the leaders of tomorrow” (468). With that, we must protect our years ahead. Alcantara addresses her audience as if they seem uninformed, she addresses various points on why teens younger than twenty-one should not consume alcohol. Tag? The opposing audience of this argument often say if eighteen-year-olds can serve in the Army, vote, drive, and marry, why can they not legally consume …show more content…

Tag? When the author mentions that alcohol can lead a drunk person to behave in a way that a sober person would likely not, it could lead to teen pregnancy, rape, and suicide. Another scenario is a car accident that could have been prevented if alcohol was not involved pg . Those definitely do not bring happy thoughts to the readers minds. Logos appeal to reason or the facts that the author uses to support their view and the opposings on the argument. The author uses several sources including Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Although this essay contains many positive points and convinces the audience that the legal age to drink should not lower, it does contain a logical fallacy. The essay uses card stacking, although it states the opposing argument the only facts noted in the essay support the side that the author takes. …show more content…

Robert Voas states teen pregnancy, sexual assaults, and crime rates have increased due to underage drinking. Alcohol consumption at a college age leads to 600,000 physical assaults and 70,000 sexual assaults yearly according to a study (464). Joyce Alcantara claims if the age were lowered back to eighteen then it would put younger teens at risk (468). People tend to have friends around their same age. So, if eighteen year olds were allowed to drink then their friends which are roughly around the age of sixteen or seventeen would likely have an alcoholic drink in their hand as well. “There’s No Benefit to Lowering the Drinking Age” explains, on average about eleven teens die daily as a result of drunk driving (Voas 464). When teens throw a party, alcohol is usually involved. Then once the party is over the kids have to get home somehow and they often drive themselves. When an alcoholic drink is placed in an eighteen-year-old hand decisions are made that harm them and others

Show More
Related
240 Words | 1 Pages

Over the past few decades, there has been much discourse regarding the drinking habits and behavior of college students. Since the passage of the Uniform Drinking Age Act of 1984, federal regulators have determined that the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) should be 21 years old instead of 18. Since then, there have been a plethora of scientific studies to determine whether this was an effective means of combating irresponsible drinking habits. The aim of these studies was to determine the overall impact of the reduced drinking age in a ‘cause and effect’ way. However, the primary means of support for the MLDA being 21 was that drinking and driving as well as overall consumption among minors was reduced.

Read More
328 Words | 2 Pages

The author of this essay, Michael Clay Smith, believes that the age limit for drinking should be lowered back to 18, similar to before creation of the new drinking age limit in the 1980’s. Michael feels like this is a “Second Prohibition” (1). I believe that the drinking age should be lower, and Smith does a good job at giving reasons why. For the better of society, Smith believes the legal drinking age should lowered, and the age limit is unfair to teenagers who are already adults, causes dangerous drinking, and ruins promising teenager lives. Smith has many ideas to support why the legal drinking limit should be dropped to 18.

Read More
662 Words | 3 Pages

Another reason many people are skeptical is because there are many things that require you to be older than 18 though not by much. With a gun you must be 21, gambling differs between states, and tobacco’s legal age in 4 states is 19(Dejong, 2). There are some who believe that when it comes to on campus drinking issues the professors and staff need to increase their efforts to stop the problem of underage and binge drinking(Dejong, 2). This group believes the problem of binge drinking can’t be solved or helped by lowering the legal drinking

Read More
1516 Words | 7 Pages

At the age of eighteen, teens are allowed to enlist in the military, virtually putting their life on the line to defend our country. With this great responsibility, another questions continues to rise; if eighteen year olds are mature enough to sacrifice their lives for the country, shouldn’t they also be mature enough to drink at the age of 18? Michael Gonchar, an author of Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered? from the New York Times, wrote an objective article looking at both pros and cons of lowering the legal drinking age. On the other hand, John McCardell wrote an article in support of lowering the legal drinking age to eighteen. To persuade the audience, both authors use numerous rhetorical techniques.

Read More
812 Words | 4 Pages

The drinking age was first lowered to eighteen years old in most states during the Vietnam War. During this time, the number of alcohol-related accidents began to rise exponentially, and a large majority percentage involved young drivers. And so, once again, the drinking age was taken back to twenty-one. “According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, while the drinking age was 21, the number of traffic fatalities involving 18 to 20-year-old drivers has decreased by thirteen percent, saving an estimated 19,121 lives since 1975” ( DUIanswers.com). Because the consumption of alcohol is considered an illegal activity for people until they reach age twenty-one, oftentimes teens are never really taught how to drink in moderation beforehand and therefore are more likely to abuse alcohol and binge drink.

Read More
441 Words | 2 Pages

Critics’ demanded that the age to drink be raised because of the death rate among 18 to 20 year olds. They ended up raising how old you have to be to have alcohol. As the plus drunk driving has decreased by over 8,000. In this I have talked about how drinking in the United States should be at 21 or 19. The effects of having it at lower and higher drinking ages.

Read More
978 Words | 4 Pages

But while it has succeeded in that, it is also believed that tougher rules, such as DUI rules and seatbelt safety rules have also played a part in this decrease. However, this higher drinking age hasn’t reduced drinking, its only “driven it underground,” Gabrielle Glaser states in her NY Times article. It has been driven underground to the riskiest settings, high school parties and frat parties that are unsupervised. This age raise segregates the drinking away from adults that can model moderation in drinking. If an 18-year-old high school senior is shown by his/her parent(s) how to drink responsibly and in moderation, I believe that it would greatly help in reducing the chance of making bad decisions by overdoing it, such as driving while drinking.

Read More
910 Words | 4 Pages

In the book called “Teenage and Alcohol,” Torr mentioned that since it is prohibited, teenagers sneak out and end up drinking irresponsibly. Students ignore both the law and the police. In 2015, James C. Fell, Michael Scherer, and Robert Voas found that alcohol consumption was increased to 16.1%. However, they also mentioned that higher alcohol consumption and higher deadly car accidents among teenage driver are positively correlated. From this fact, one can see that lowering the drinking age because of weak rules and regulations is not a right

Read More
1147 Words | 5 Pages

In 2006, the national center on addiction and substance abuse reported that people under the age of twenty-one were responsible for over seventeen percent of consumer spending on alcohol in the United States. In the past, there have been numerous efforts to reduce the number of underage drinkers. For instance, The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, this act makes it illegal for persons under the age of twenty-one years old to consume alcohol. Apparently from the data reported by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse the acts efforts have proved ineffective. In Russell Behrmann’s article “The US should lower the drinking age to 18” he says that the act has in fact “exacerbated the problem of binge drinking among youths.”

Read More
1038 Words | 5 Pages

In some states people don’t even get their driver’s license until 16 years old or even 18 years old. Their experience behind the wheel is not very long. Adding alcohol into the equation could end up being very dangerous. According to Kypri, K., Davie, G., McElduff, P., Connor, J., and Langley, J., (2014) “four studies of the short-term effects of that law change on young people have been published in the scientific literature; they showed increases in emergency department admissions for intoxication, increases in disorder offenses and drunk driving, and higher traffic crash injury rates than would have been expected in the absence of the change (p. 1396). Those four studies took place in New Zealand right after they changed the drinking age from 20 to 18.

Read More
452 Words | 2 Pages

The writer Justin McNaull explains how 18 is the “Age of Responsibility” for varied reasons and therefore they should be permitted to drink legally. For example McNaull explains how young adults can vote, enter legal contracts, and serve on military. Also McNaull mentions that many military personnel interrogated why they can fight wars but can’t visit a bar and drink one beer. The right for a 16 year old to get marry if he has his parent’s permission has questioned our laws. Many researchers and people who agree with lowering the drinking age have advocated that its hypocritical.

Read More
827 Words | 4 Pages

People will oppose to this law, but at the age of 18 an adolescent's brain is not fully developed yet. Underage drinking is a common action in today’s society. What kids do not know is the effect that underage drinking has on their brain. Since the brain is not fully developed at the age of 18, drinking

Read More
1387 Words | 6 Pages

Over the years, the legal drinking age in the United States has been heavily debated. Some argue that the legal age to drink should be 18 or 19 because people at that age are recognized as adults; others argue that the drinking age should be 21 because people who are able to drink should be more mature and have their lives better planned out. Although people are legally adults at 18, they are not yet mature adults; in fact, according to NRP, “emerging science about brain development suggests that most people don’t reach full maturity until the age 25” (“Brain”). Before earning the right to legally drink, people should allow their bodies to fully develop and gain a better knowledge of how to organize their lives. The drinking age should remain

Read More
717 Words | 3 Pages

First, teenagers are drinking at much younger ages and drinking considerably more than teenagers did 20 years ago” (Lombardi). As we know, underage drinking is a severe problem that can have long-term consequences for young people's health, well-being, and future opportunities. We must work to discourage underage drinking by enforcing existing laws, continuing to educate young people about the dangers of alcohol consumption, and providing support for those who struggle with addiction. We can also start preventing addiction which is much easier than trying to cure it.

Read More
1300 Words | 6 Pages

Across the country, college students participate in an illegal activity known as underage drinking. The drinking age in America is an ongoing debate of whether it should be kept at 21, or reduced to 18. While some believe lowering the drinking age would make drinking for young kids safer, others presume the opposite. According to Alexis Aguirre, a journalist at the Texas State University Star, “The legal drinking age should be lowered to 18. Once 18, a person is legally considered an adult and should be able to drink.”

Read More

More about Rhetorical Analysis: Joyce Alcantara's Mothers Against Drunk Driving

Open Document