Devilsadvocate,
Those are mostly all good points. I only have a problem with one of them. Drinking and driving is no accident. I think you probably meant to say, "Outside of more people driving drunk..."
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Students coming to school drunk is definitely a problem, but making the legal drinking age 21 has not stopped it from happening. I think if anything, lowering the drinking age to 16 would actually have a reverse effect. I don't honestly foresee the United States lowering the drinking age by that much, though. If that did happen, I would hope that the legal age to drive would also be increased.

Outside of increased accidents etc the biggest problem with age 18, is the effects on the schools. Eighteen year old seniors can legally drink and when age 18 existed in Wisconsin they did, on their lunch breaks. Also the age 18 Seniors could legally purchase beer and hard liquor. Younger students only needed find a Senior to buy their beer for them. Many problems developed from the age 18 liquor laws. Even at 19, at least there would be very few of them in the high schools.

Whybesad,
Your most recent comment prompted me to do some local research, using the gazette's website as my resource. All I did was check the public records section for DUI arrests and alcohol related incidents. The earliest date I found was from June fifth. Here are the numbers I found.
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54 total incidents related to alcohol (to include where multiple persons were listed in one report. I did not include "contributing to minors" though.)
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35 incidents related to alcohol, mostly being DUIs, were from people over the age of 21.
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24 of those incidents were from people over the age of 30.
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This time period spans 19 days.
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29.69% of all incidents were from people under the age of 21, but were not DUIs.
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5.55% of all incidents were from people under the age of 21 drinking and driving.
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64.81% of all incidents were from people over the age of 21 drinking and driving.
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68.57% of the drinking and driving charges for adults who were over the age of 21 were from adults who were also over the age of 30.
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Please remember that included in this research was a party where 12 persons under the age of 21 were issued citations all at one time, which contributes to a much higher number in the category of under 21, not drinking and driving. I do not think that my research supports your view points, whybesad.

It seems that eighteen shouldn't be the legal drinking age. There are an awful lot of very immature eighteen year olds out there that wouldn't be able to be responsible for using alcohol. Twenty-one is also young to be drinking for some people. It seems they just drink to get drunk and nothing more. Social drinking doesn't usually happen until a person turns thirty. But, there are exceptions I do know very responsible eighteen year olds and vice versa. But, a rule of thumb they shouldn't be able to drink legally. As a parent you would have to look at your own situation you know your kids better than anybody else so, if you think they can handle it then let them. They are going to drink or smoke pot if they want to anyway. As parents you just need to raise them responsibly and hope that you have instilled the correct values and morals in them and hope they make the right choices in life.

Justsaynotomath says:

""in Wisconsin you can drink with your parents if you are under 18 but you can not drink with your parents from 18 - 21.""

This is false. A popular misconception borne of a misinterpretation of the underage drinking laws. Parents may serve their own children 18-21 or any age for that matter.

justsaynotomath-
don't know where you got the information that from 18 to 21 you could not drink with your parents...
from http://www.dor.state.wi.us/faqs/ise/atun...

Can children be in a bar with their parents?

Yes. Persons under age 21 may be on licensed premises, and can be sold and allowed to drink alcohol beverages, if they are with their parents, guardians, or spouses, as long as those persons are of legal age; but this is at the discretion of the licensee.

Personally, I have no problem with my 18 year old high school graduate drinking with me at home. No driving afterward (until the next day). No going out afterward.

For those that do not see a connection between military service and drinking...it is quite simple. You have the ability to decide on your own if you want to take a job where you are likely risking your life, but you do not have the reasoning skills to be able to handle drinking? No, that does not make sense to me.
19 years old seems like a good place to make it to appease all sides.
Just my opinion...
PCMagic1

in wisconsin you can drink with your parents if you are under 18 but you can not drink with your parents from 18 - 21. this is backwards and should be changed to the exact opposite. drink with your parents from 18-21 so you can learn how it effects you and what not to do when drinking at any age. i agree if you can fight a war you can drink a beer. i did most of my drinking well before 21 and now only have a cocktail a few times a month. my parents did not provide it but did not tell me i couldn't either. when allowed to make your own choice the answer seems easy. provide young people with a safe place to explore drinking which they are going to do with or without you.

Being a bar owner in Wisconsin, it would be good if the age were 19, I raised three sons and still feel this way. I don't think it makes a lot of difference between the age of 19 and 21, actually. When kids to go college, IF they are going to drink, they will drink no matter what the age is, that is a well known fact. We don't live in a college town, so we don't have to deal with that, but I feel sorry for bar owners in those towns. It has to be a real ongoing concern. The law in Wisconsin is that if a child is with their parent in a bar, they can drink, no matter what age and they do. I have a REAL problem with that as it sends a bad message that it is o.k. to drink. Children in their early teens are not ready for drinking and they get a real taste for the stuff and it sends them on the road to ruin, if you ask me. Parents justify it by saying that they want them to learn to drink with them.......bad judgement, they need to do that when they have graduated high school and are older. Ours is a family bar on a lake in Northern Wisconsin where all the families gather for fellowship and fun when they come together again in the summertime. Out of control drinking isn't too much of a problem as people mostly walk here or come a short amount of distance on their drive. We are lucky.

My parents let me have the occasional beer or drink when I was living at home. I had to be in the house and I was not allowed to drive anywhere afterwards. That experience took the "mystery" away from drinking. It wasn't a big deal and it wasn't something that made me feel "adult" or more grown up.

When I got married, at age 20, I still wasn't legally allowed to drink unless I showed proof I was married and my husband was with me. He was older than me and over 21 so he was considered my guardian until I turned 21.

Lots of my friends were envious that I was allowed into bars and things before I was 21 but really it was a pain in the ass. I had to carry my marriage certificate with me everywhere if we went out and he always got carded to prove we were married.

There I was, married and with my husband and living out on my own and I had to be supervised to have a beer with my wings at Hooters. I guess it's a lot like being old enough to serve in the military, be deployed to foreign countries, fight wars and all that but you still have to be 21 to 'handle' a drink.
I remember full well when the drinking age was 18. It didn't seem like a big deal then. You probably didn't have as much underage drinking going on either.

No age makes you automatically responsible for anything. I know people of all different ages who can't handle things like drinking in moderation, driving safely and living on their own.

I wouldn’t let my under legal age child drink with me, other than toast during holidays. Granted, they will probably drink while in college regardless, but what they do on their own time after eighteen is their choice. However, what they do with me I have control over and I don’t think it’s wise for parents to promote underage drinking. I think this state has enough problems with DUI's and alcoholics and I'm not going to help add to it.

Whether you like the idea or not, when your child starts asking you for a 'sip' of beer, they are telling you--communicating, if you will--that they are curious, and want to find out 'what all the hubbub is about'. Be happy that a teenager is coming to you--a parent--with this. Who would you rather they 'experiment' with? You, or their peers?

I don't drink so that's an easy one! I don't think my kids will drink either. They are young now, but we talk about it being a mind-altering substance that can be addictive and that can cause people to do stupid things. They think alcohol is evil. I've had alcoholics in my family and my kids know about the damage it can do.

Very good points mentor397. I guess I didn't explain my point as clearly, in my thinking I knew what I was trying to say. Nobody is forced to sign up and join the military. The two points just can't be compared to each other. Each responsibility is different.

What does a draft have to do with being old enough to fight and die for your country? Are you saying it's only okay to drink if you're being forced to fight? Perhaps a better line would be that if you're old enough to choose to be trusted to lay down your life if necessary to defend our country, then perhaps you're old enough to choose to drink.

The problem isn't age. The problem is that we as a society protect our children from the consequences of their actions for so long that by the time they can drink, legally or not, they don't have the capability to see the effects of their actions.

Devils advocate i completely agree with your statement. my parents would allow me to have several beers on occasion underage but would NOT let me drive. i learned a few things. im not an idiot in public as a fresh 21 year old and can conduct myself

The military is not manditory or involved in a draft. The comments about being old enough to fight and die for our great country doesn't hold a drop of water to me.

it depends on my kid. if they are me when i was 19, then nope:) but if they are the complete opposite of me at 19, then fo sho. if i as a parent cant teach them how to drink responsible, how is college??

SarahB...
Most regular beer drinkers, regardless of age, do not gently sip their beer.
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Devilsadvocate...
Great comment. Most kids will want to try alcohol at sometime anyway. You may as well teach your kids about alcohol at home. This does not mean that I support all underage drinking activities.

Thekai: I agree with you on that. You would
have been like a breath of fresh air to my peer group.

SarahB,
It's too bad that you didn't know me when I was a teenager.

Devilsadvocate: You've got a great theory, but I would bet my second-to-last dollar that most teen-agers are snickering behind your back. There is no way that they will only sip and follow their limits when first out with their friends despite your best efforts. Many and most teen-agers, once away from the adults in their lives, take drinking to the extreme. It is all about being sloppy, loud, and bragging. I've yet to run into a teen that sips gently on a brandy, beer or wine. Thank goodness that most of them age-out of their alcohol abusing and do not advance to the addiction stage.

We live an a funny society where the law says you can't drink till you are 21. We then somehow assume that simply being 21 will equip our children for all the negative aspects of alcohol consumption, even though, in theory, they have never been exposed to it.

Wisconsin law does allow parents to serve their own children. Although the practice is looked down upon by most "do gooders".

It may be the most important thing a parent can do, for their late teen, to see that they are familiar with effects of alcohol consumption at home, in a safe caring environment, so their first experience isn't away from home, in a dangerous setting, where the likelihood of being hurt or becoming a victim increases dramatically. If your late teen is familiar with the effects of alcohol and familiar with his/her limitations, he/she will be a whole lot safer, when away from home.

If you are referring to service members drinking on military bases when they are under 21, the answer is a little complicated.
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In the United States, where the drinking age is 21, the military follows those same state laws and does not let anyone under the age of 21 drink. There are some exceptions though. I don't know about all branches of the military, but I know that about a year ago the Marine Corps made an order that allows unit commanders to permit Marines under the age of 21, but above the age of 18, to drink at unit functions. The most common occurrence of this is the Marine Corps Ball, held annually in November.
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I was stationed in Japan for two years, and even though the legal drinking age in Japan is 20, when I arrived it was illegal for Marines under the age of 21 to drink. In September of 2006, the Commander of Marine Corps Forces Japan passed down an order that allowed Marines to drink once they were 20 years old though. After the order was passed, the Marine Corps commands in Japan noticed a huge drop in under age drinking violations, and a boost in the morale.

This is a no win question, you have the normal people who no that it is not the normal thing to do and then you have the other people who dont give a mule's backside about anything except there right as a American to carry guns smoke anywhere they want and do as they will do, And the arguement that if they are old enough to vote or fight for our country is also crap. The laws are made for a reason and a very good one to protect everyone. Yes some of the kids are mature enough to handle drinking and probally will do a better job of it than there parents but that still does not change the fact they are underage, all your doing by allowing them to drink at this age is to teach them that it is o.k to break the laws. Then when something serious happens there is no one to blame except the parents.

Ilovehockey - while I voted NO, I agree with you 110%.
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Can 18-20 year-olds drink on their bases?

I concur.

My theory has always been, if you are old enough/responsible enough to fight in a war shooting guns for this country, you should be old enough and responsible enough to drink. I do not however, condone drinking and driving at ANY age!