What do the authors believe has caused the problem of binge drinking on college campuses?
In what ways are the colleges responsible for the problem?
There are five parts to the essay. What is each part?
Who is the audience of this essay?
What are the specific recommendations made in the essay?
What, if any, effect has the essay had on you?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The colleges believe that the behavior of the drinker causes the problem of binge drinking on campus.They are also pressured by their peers to do so and take it as a challenge for them to see how much they can drink and they want to be superior to the other people around them. Colleges are responsible for this problem because in many colleges they promote it and gain a name for it. Also there are no restrictions that are put on the students in these situations and so they have no choice but to drink and have no consequences for doing it. The audience is for kids who are going to be entering college and for students that are already attending college and have to deal with this problem everyday in their lives. I think most importantly it is for the "Colleges" from everywhere in the United States to read and to help them come up with a situation for this matter, so they can help this problem from reoccuring. I don't think that this essay has had an important impact on me it has taught me a few things and helped me to better understand this issue but It has not come to a shock to me at all because I know that this occurs in colleges . I know that I will drink in college, I have already established that but I will make the right decisions and have some common sense while doing it.
ReplyDeleteThe authors of this essay believe that the problem of binge drinking on college campuses has many causes. They point toward the easy accesibility of alcohol, a sense of "tradition", and the way that campus environments reinforce it as a social norm. However, as is obvious by the title, they put the biggest blame not on the students but the officials in charge of them. They think that the root of the problem is the denial of alcohol abuse by those that run colleges coupled with their reluctance or plain ignorance of how to fix the problem.
ReplyDeleteWechsler, Deutsch, and Dowdall believe that the colleges are responisble for the problem due to their tolerance of it. Many administrators have bought into the "culture of alcohol" rampant on countless campuses and dismiss the problems that binge drinkers cause to other students. Basically they look the other way, telling themselves it's all a part of the learning process when becoming an adult. Even worse are those that fear tackling the problem due to the bad PR. By god, who would want their child to apply to a college that has a destructive alcohol problem among students? Just because you don't report it doesn't mean it's not happening.
The essay is split into five sections as follows;
1)The Problem and its Solution
2)Binge Drinking and its Negative Effects are found "across the board"
3) Point problem back to the college itself...describe those who have the problem
4) Detailed Solution
5) Advice and Encouragement
I think that the authors focused this essay toward educators and institutions (besides content, footnote on page 397 says "written for the CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION") for obvious reasons. They not only believe this is a problem on college campuses but have statistics from multiple resources to back up their opinion. In many ways this essay is a logical proof. I also believe that this was pointed toward parents and students in some way. For the parents it encouraged them to demand change and for students it enlightened them.
The authors suggest that colleges move away from the traditional methods of combating alcohol abuse since they are obviously ineffective. Instead of focusing on making the binge drinkers give up their habits (page 399-"the least effective intervention point is the abuser") they suggest that students and officials should create rules of what behavior will/will not be tolerated. This makes sense when you consider the fact that it is hard to punish somebody when there is nothing outlining what exactly they did to deserve punishment. They also make a simple suggestion that colleges combat one social activity with other ones, which is pretty straightforward. The last suggestions were more profound in my opinion. The authors believe that colleges should reform their admissions process so it influences applicants and let's them no up front "we will not tolerate the following..." There is also power in numbers so it makes sense for colleges to work with both local businesses that sell alcohol and the FAs to combat the problem. At the end of their suggestion list is the biggest one of all-"stop denying the problem".
I can't say that this essay has had a profound effect on me. Throughout my life I have been preached the negative effects of alcohol abuse, but perhaps this has come about due to efforts like this essay in informing the public. That helps me to appreciate this essay since it not only informed me but offered up solutions. Not (totally) grade two thinking by any means...
The authors believe that the problem is caused by the behavior of the drinker, not the quantity of alcohol consumed. The colleges are responsible for this problem to a certain extent because many of the colleges are in denial and are failing to see that binge drinking and alcohol abuse is prevelent all over their campuses. Many colleges just arent doing anything about it. The first part of the essay is stating the problem of alcohol abuse and also how colleges are failing to recognize it. The next part talks about the problems that binge drinking can lead to. The third part is about the studies that they performed and how they found 44 percent of all students were binge drinkers. The next part talks more about the problem itself, and the last part is giving the authors opinions on what can be done to prevent this. The audience of this essay would be binge drinkers, people who are affected by binge drinkers, and also college campuses that are in denial of the alcohol abuse. Some specific recommendations are for city officials to make it harder for minors to get their hands on alcohol, another recommendation is that for residence hall advisors and academic counselors to try to prevent alcohol abuse by setting stricter policies. This hasnt had much of an affect on me at all because i already knew drinking was a problem at colleges and I dont drink, so it didnt really have an affect on me.
ReplyDeleteThe behavior of the drinker is the main problem. Colleges are definitely at fault with the alcohol problem. A lot of colleges will overlook their problems with alcohol on campus. They are not doing much about the whole problem. Also I believe they are not only just overlooking it but they are denying the fact that there is a problem that they should be dealing with. The first section is about the problem of alcohol abuse and tying it to the problems in college. Next is the problems that come with binge drinking. The third part is about the studies performed on the whole problem with students binge drinking. The forth part talks about the problem of binge drinking and the last part is what the author believes can be done to better the problem.I believe this essay targets binge drinkers themselves, people going to college and colleges themselves. Some recommendations were to tighten up some policies and somehow make it harder for people that are not of age to get alcohol. Overall this essay did not have a profound impact on me. I do not drink and I already was aware of the problem with drinking at college.
ReplyDeleteI always find the topic of alcohol to be somewhat humorous. From the time we are born, the dangers of alcohol are preached to us, and yet the problem of alcohol abuse is still at large. Either there's a lot of stupid people, or I'm just missing something.
ReplyDeleteI would say that there is a consensus that most alcohol abuse occurs at colleges, or at least that is where the most cases are reported. So after reading the title, I find it hard to believe that colleges are actually in denial of alcohol abuse because the problem seems clearly be evident (in my opinion). I liked the beginning paragraph of the essay because it was thorough and concise. The authors stated the problem, gave some examples, and provided a brief solution. I felt that the essay was already over because they had given enough information to persuade me. Knowing that other readers would not be so easy though, they continued on the subject for three more pages.
I think that the authors of this essay believe that the problem of binge drinking on college campuses can be solved if "administrators, faculty members, students, and parents first gain a better understanding of how excessive drinking is affecting the academic and social climate of their institutions". The second thing they must do is " believe there are promising, practical strategies they can adopt that will improve the situation". The last thing they must do is "be prepared to contend with the skepticism and resistance bound to be aroused by actions designed to curb that abuse".
The colleges are responsible for the problem because they have not taken a strong enough action towards eliminating it. The authors say that many colleges are in denial of the magnitude of the problem, so they put forth a minimal effort against it.
The five parts of the essay are:
1. The problem of alcohol abuse at colleges and how it should be solved.
2. The destruction that results from binge drinking.
3. Who has the problem and statistics.
4. A detailed explanation of how to solve the problem.
5. Personal advice for those college students who binge drink.
I would say that the audience of this essay includes everyone that was identified by the authors in the first paragraph, who are responsible for both creating this problem and not putting an end to it.
Some specific recommendations made in this essay are for college advisors to create stricter policies and everyone should establish what kinds of behavior will not be tolerated, city officials should work harder to eliminate the sale of alcohol to minors, and campus authorities must stop denying the extent of the problem.
This essay has not had a profound effect on me personally, but I will now be better-prepared to help someone who does struggle with this problem.
This piece looks like some of the ones that were propmts for the regents!! It's so great!! All this straight forwardness makes me happy :D Anyways there are a number of causes for the binge drinking that are generally ignored. The aknowledged one is obviously the fact that they're college kids and that's just what they do. They break away from their controlled lives and head straight for freedom. And while that's part of it it's not the whole cause. The reason that many feel that drinking is the way to break free. The reason specified by the atuhors were the fact that no one has ever had the guts to state the fact that binge drinking and it's consequences shouldn't be tollerated. Not by students, or by campus police or anything like that. Colleges use this problem to their advantage rather than seeing it for the destructive tradition that it is. The whole community is effected by this trend and so changing it would be far too inconvenient for anyone to attempt. The audience of the piece is anyone that is a part of the college community. Mostly the staff b/c they can really do something but it also addresses the students. I especially appreciated the part where it talks about high school having a huge part in this. It's ridiculous to think otherwise. The reccomendations are to tour the college on nights and mornings whent these events have the most consequences. View what you've been hiding from and you'll want to fight back. The essay hasn't really had an effect on me. Ppl aren't stupid they know what goes on. Duh.
ReplyDeletepart 1- the problem and the facts about college drinking
ReplyDeletepart 2- alcohol abuse
part 3- relationship of binge drinking and alcoholic problems in college
part 4- alcohol abuse interfering with the college community
part 5- what you can do to find it and prevent
I think the author believes that it has gradually become more and more of a a social standard. "Generations of college alumni have wistfully recalled the boozy high jinks of their student days..."
Colleges are responsible because they know it goes on. They choose to ignore it.
The audience is us. Kids going to college soon, to educate us of the dangers.
The specific recommendations are in the fifth part. They say to start with a weekend tour, "beginning on Thursday night."
This piece had a minimal effect on me, it sounded like preaching the same thing we hear all the time. People are going to do what they want regardless of what they're told.
The author seems to blame the problem on the accessibility of alcohol, the fact that it is the "norm" in college, and the behavior of those who binge. Personally I think that the author left out the fact that you have a couple thousand young people in one place. What do you think is going to happen? Anyway, the colleges are responsible in that they refuse to acknowledge the problem. Because of this they have taken no large steps to fixing it because they are afraid of legal suits, diminished credibility as a college, and all the other things said in the essay. The structure is problem, history/experiment, findings/solution, field trip/rally call. One of the recommendations was for college officials to work with city officails to stop selling alcohol to minors and discourage half-price beer nights. I don't really think this will work. Minors will always be able to get alcohol. I highly doubt that any business will take steps that will decrease their own profits. One thing that I think would work was having colleges give students more chances to be busy. This would give them less time to spend drinking will probably take their mind off it. The promotional material through the high school sounded useless to me. I really don't see that getting through to people at all. This essay really didn't have any impact on me. I think that its due to hearing about alcohol abuse and how its bad all my life. And so like regularly consuming alchohol, I built up a tolerance to topics like this.
ReplyDeleteBefore I begin, Travis hit on something that I'd like to emphasize: "Either there's a lot of stupid people, or I'm just missing something." Trust me, it's not you. People are stupid. On the entire issue of alcohol, I agree with the Bible's stance: you can drink, but don't get drunk. The authors seem to say that the behavior is the problem, not the amount, but I say that the combination of the two causes the most problems. The real issue is one of the balance of freedom and justice: how do you protect stupid people from themselves and not oppress the intelligent? I say that the stupid people who drown in their own vomit after binging just make the world's average IQ go up. (It may be a cold thought, but it's a silver lining) This essay didn't really affect me all that much, as I've already decided to stay away from most alcohol, judging from the amount of problems it causes.
ReplyDeleteThe authors believe that ignorance caused binge drinking. The causes of binge drinking is blatantly obvious and people either are too ignorant to realize the causes are simply ignore them. Colleges are somewhat responsible for binge drinking because they have not been forceful enough in getting the point the binge drinking is bad and unacceptable across. The audience of this essay is the general public and to dawn a realization on binge drinking. some recommendations were that colleges should have a more big brother standing on the problem, watch and monitor students closely. I am once again detached and indifferent.
ReplyDeleteI really don't much else to say about the essay. A lot of people identified that people are idiots and I wholly agree. I noticed that not one person who blogged said that the essay had an effect on them. I think that this is because we were preached about it constantly that we just shut down to all the ideas in the essay. Overall though, I think that this problem can't be fixed with a couple of ideas that might work. The whole concept of drinking would have to change in the minds of college students. Alcohol and colleges pretty much go hand in hand due to the media glorifying it in movies. Its not a problem that can just be fixed and probably won't be for a long time.
ReplyDeleteI think everyone that blogged is on the same page, so it should be an easy essay to discuss in class. I like christyn's comment at the end of her blog, "it not only informed me but offered up solutions. Not (totally) grade two thinking by any means..." because she analyzed this essay, using a previous one we read.
ReplyDeleteThe five parts to the essay are: states the problem of drinking in college, also facts is presented about it. The second part talks about alcohol abuse in general. The third part is connection of binge drinking and of college. Part four is on the distraction caused by drinking on the college itself. The last section is about how alcohol abuse and binge drinking can all be prevented and avoided.
ReplyDeleteYes colleges are responsible for the drinking that occurs they know what is happening all the time and they contuine to ignore the problems caused by it. This essay is directed toward high school students exactly us the kids that are going into college to warn us of the things that happen and what to avoid and stay away from. The author sees that drinking in college is almost expected and a standard to young college students. This essay has not effected me at all. I am aware of the dangers and the things that can happen from drinking and that and i avoid them all now. This essay comes across and to telling and preaching.