Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Why do college students love getting wasted?
Salon ^ | 29 Aug

Posted on 08/30/2011 2:50:21 PM PDT by flowerplough

Q:Usually when people talk about college binge drinking they use terms like, "epidemic" or "plague." But you don't write about it in such a negative way. Why?

A:The history of alcohol research is the history of pathology. There's a lot of focus on addiction, and the ways in which alcohol destroys lives and destroys families, and in [the] college drinking world in particular, there are these long lists and inventories of all its harms. That's important because some bad things do happen, but what past researchers have missed is why it's fun. I asked that question of my informants, and I could tell it was the first time that anybody asked them that -- "Did you have fun?" "Yeah, of course I had fun." OK, so, what was fun about it? What are the payoffs? ...

Q:College has been associated with binge drinking for a very long time, especially if you think about its portrayals in popular culture. Where does this come from?

A:There's been this social construction of college as a place for heavy drinking, partly thanks to Hollywood depictions. I grew up in the '70s and our major exposure to college was "Animal House" and movies that were all about getting hammered. And then a lot of us are introduced to college through siblings and parents, and people who go to college have a ton of stories about drinking.

But a lot of it has to do with the structural position that these young people are in. They're 18- to 22-year-olds. They're away from the supervision of their parents, many of them for the first time, and that's an important time in life to search for identity. And for my informants alcohol was a vehicle for hooking up and meeting people and having romantic and sexual interactions...

(Excerpt) Read more at salon.com ...


TOPICS: Education; Society; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: commissioners; police; socialworkers; teachers
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-27 next last

1 posted on 08/30/2011 2:50:26 PM PDT by flowerplough
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: flowerplough

Dude!


2 posted on 08/30/2011 2:52:20 PM PDT by Vaquero ("an armed society is a polite society" Robert A. Heinlein)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: flowerplough

I generally did it as a community bonding effort in an attempt to have casual sex with a female, but that’s just me.


3 posted on 08/30/2011 2:55:42 PM PDT by TheThirdRuffian (Nothing to see here. Move along.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: flowerplough

If you had to listen to droning marxists all day, I’d...oh never mind.


4 posted on 08/30/2011 2:58:08 PM PDT by WOBBLY BOB (My mind is like a steel trap: rusty and illegal in 37 states.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: flowerplough
Because college students have to do something with all of the bongs they make from scratch in their dorm rooms.

Not that I have experience with any of this.

5 posted on 08/30/2011 2:58:10 PM PDT by GSWarrior
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: flowerplough

"My advice to you, is to start drinking heavily."

6 posted on 08/30/2011 2:59:43 PM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: flowerplough

Has there ever been a recorded time in history when college kids did NOT enjoy getting wasted?

Somehow I doubt it.


7 posted on 08/30/2011 3:02:13 PM PDT by Ronin (Obamanation has replaced Bizarroworld as the most twisted place in the universe.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: flowerplough

Because they are children in adult bodies. Most of them have been coddled by parents who fix all their mistakes and never consider asking them to work or be responsible.

College itself is ridiculous. The first 2 years at least are useless repeats of high school material. Until we get government out of education and stop doing things the way they have been done for 100 years, this nonsense will continue. It is time that parents look around for better options for their children than the grind of traditional schooling.


8 posted on 08/30/2011 3:04:39 PM PDT by Pining_4_TX ( The state is the great fiction by which everybody seeks to live at the expense of everybody else. ~)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: flowerplough

“There’s a time and a place for everything, and it’s called college.” - South Park


9 posted on 08/30/2011 3:07:04 PM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: flowerplough

Simple. Because college students love getting wasted.


10 posted on 08/30/2011 3:07:36 PM PDT by samtheman (Perry for President)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: flowerplough

Why do college kids drink?

Because it feels good, which explains a lot of other stuff they do, too. Was this article paid for by a stimulus grant? Is there going to be a study?


11 posted on 08/30/2011 3:08:13 PM PDT by BfloGuy (In old fashioned language, Keynes proposed cheating the workers.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: flowerplough

“...through siblings and parents, and people who go to college have a ton of stories about drinking.”

Too bad my sister is already dead from her alcholism that took root in college. Although she still serves the purpose as a warning to my kids. That said, I’m glad I survived my college years (and beyond) with no DUI’s and no huge misshaps. Although a buddy of mine did break his neck in a college drunk-driving accident. Survived luckily.

Okay - sorry. PARTY ON!!


12 posted on 08/30/2011 3:09:30 PM PDT by 21twelve (Obama Recreating the New Deal: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2185147/posts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GSWarrior
I went to college in the 70's, in a place where we received over 150 inches of frozen precipitation each year. We learned to make bongs out of snow, and how to make mash heaters and evaporators function in sub-zero weather. I would not advise this, but it did help us deal with our idiot Marxist professors, in part by learning a few valuable trade skills.
13 posted on 08/30/2011 3:10:54 PM PDT by andy58-in-nh (America does not need to be organized: it needs to be liberated.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: flowerplough

Why do dogs lick their b@lls?


14 posted on 08/30/2011 3:12:21 PM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: flowerplough

Because most kids can’t party like that in high school which I did and was pretty well burned out to it by 20.


15 posted on 08/30/2011 3:13:40 PM PDT by Rebelbase (Disgusted with the establishment GOP and their enablers.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator
"My advice to you, is to start drinking heavily."

Ever read the story upon which Animal House was based?

Fits pretty well in this thread, IMO.

16 posted on 08/30/2011 3:16:19 PM PDT by Charles Martel (Endeavor to persevere...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: flowerplough

we live in a degenerating society

btw, why aren’t drinking age laws enforced on campus?


17 posted on 08/30/2011 3:17:25 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Happiness)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GeronL

Because there aren’t that many cops on the planet and if there were, everyone would be kicked out of school?


18 posted on 08/30/2011 3:20:23 PM PDT by Raebie (WS)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: 21twelve

“sister is already dead from her alcholism that took root in college”

Condolences. For me, it’s my youngest aunt, and her using/abusing/dependence began earlier; she didn’t spend all that much time in college.


19 posted on 08/30/2011 3:21:27 PM PDT by flowerplough (Pelosi on Republicans: "They want to destroy food safety, clean air, clean water, ...")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: flowerplough

They’ve seen what their futures look like


20 posted on 08/30/2011 3:21:43 PM PDT by icanhasbailout (Draft Judge Andrew Napolitano 2012)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-27 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson