Drinking and thinking: what impact is alcohol having on today's youth?Think when you drink!" admonishes the alcohol industry in a gesture toward preventing alcohol abuse among young people. But professionals who work in the field of alcohol and drug prevention find this motto amusing. It qualifies as an oxymoron--a phrase that is self-contradictory. Drinking alcohol is a sure means of interfering with thinking, beginning even with the first drink. Alcohol compromises the user's ability to perform normal as well as complex tasks, slows down the recording and retrieval of information by brain cells, degrades coordination, slows reaction time, and distorts perception, judgment, and concentration. Such mental impairment Impairment 1. A reduction in a company's stated capital. 2. The total capital that is less than the par value of the company's capital stock. Notes: 1. This is usually reduced because of poorly estimated losses or gains. 2. is the reason that federal law prohibits airline pilots from drinking any alcohol 24 hours before a flight. When studnets drink. Alcohol is so readily available--and so attractively advertised to associate social success, friendship, romance, sex, prestige, and power with drinking--that many students begin to drink at quite an early age. By the eighth grade 70 percent of youth have tried alcohol. The average age of first use is 12.6 years. So children are likely to be experimenting with alcohol before they even leave elementary school elementary school: see school. . For many of these children, their chances for a successful, productive life will be sabotaged by these early intoxication intoxication, condition of body tissue affected by a poisonous substance. Poisonous materials, or toxins, are to be found in heavy metals such as lead and mercury, in drugs, in chemicals such as alcohol and carbon tetrachloride, in gases such as carbon monoxide, and experiences. Drinking has a direct negative effect on a student's grades. A Michigan Michigan (mĭsh`ĭgən), upper midwestern state of the United States. It consists of two peninsulas thrusting into the Great Lakes and has borders with Ohio and Indiana (S), Wisconsin (W), and the Canadian province of Ontario (N,E). study of three school districts examined school days skipped and average grade point average for junior high students and tenth graders. The statistics showed that students who used alcohol 10 or more times during the previous year were far more likely to skip school days than were abstainers, and nondrinkers were much more likely to obtain the top grades. College drinking. In recent years increasing attention has been paid to the impact of college drinking on academic success. As use of alcohol and other drugs has declined somewhat in other age groups, alcohol consumption, especially heavy drinking
College and university administrators believe that alcohol is a factor in 41 percent of all academic problems and 28 percent of all academic dropouts. An estimated 7 percent of the freshman class each year drops out for alcohol-related reasons. Each year college students spend $5.5 billion on alcohol, more than they spend on all other beverages or on books combined. And the consequences are disastrous: 95 percent of violent crime on campus is alcohol-related; 90 percent of all reported campus rapes involve alcohol use by either the assailant or the victim or both; 60 percent of college women acquiring sexually transmitted diseases Sexually transmitted diseases Infections that are acquired and transmitted by sexual contact. Although virtually any infection may be transmitted during intimate contact, the term sexually transmitted disease is restricted to conditions that are largely , including AIDS, were under the influence of alcohol. The number one killer of 15- to 24-year-olds is alcohol-related auto accidents. Action is needed. Recently, a blue-ribbon commission on substance abuse at colleges and universities issued a strong call for all higher education higher education Study beyond the level of secondary education. Institutions of higher education include not only colleges and universities but also professional schools in such fields as law, theology, medicine, business, music, and art. institutions, their faculties, and their alumni to focus on the problem of drinking on campus and to shift college culture away from seeing alcohol as a necessity for college life. In addition, each person can contribute toward a changed attitude in our culture about drinking. Here are some suggestions. * Question the truthfulness and logic behind the glamorous glam·or·ous also glam·our·ous adj. Full of or characterized by glamour. glam  or·ous·ly adv. alcohol advertisements. Most of them are modern fairy tales This is a list of fairy tales, the dates of their earliest known printed version, the author and, if known, the collection of tales in which it was published. It should be noted, however, that not all stories listed below would be categorized as fairy tales by a strict definition , but often with a grim ending. * Join a community coalition to educate your neighborhood and town about the damage that alcohol causes. Call 1-800-729-6686 for information about how your community can combat alcohol and other drugs. * Urge your school administrators to take aggressive action on both legal and illicit drugs illicit drug Street drug, see there in the school, regardless of grade level. Prevention should begin in the earliest grades, policies should be enforced, and safe alcohol- and drug-free alternatives should be provided for students. * Join with other parents to share information (e.g., house rules, social plans). Make an agreement with them that your house will not be used for unsupervised teen drinking parties. Increasing attention is warranted by everyone concerned with the future of our children and youth, and ultimately the future of our nation. Education should not be undercut undercut, n 1. the portion of a tooth that lies between its height of contour and the gingivae, only if that portion is of less circumference than the height of contour. 2. by mind-altering mind-altering adj. Producing mood changes or distorted perceptions; hallucinogenic. chemicals like alcohol. The wasting of bright, creative minds and their potential contributions to our world affects us all. |
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