TheAgitator.com
Zero Tolerance Watch
Tuesday, May 4th, 2004Reader Jim McCarthy sends this amusing Washington Post column lauding a group called “Community of Concern,” which scolds parents for taking the “if you’re going to drink, drink responsibly” line with their teens, insisting that only a firm, no tolerance policy toward alcohol will prevent substance abuse.
Author Jay Matthews probably reveals a bit too much, however, when he writes:
As I have indicated before, I am an extremist on this issue. I got drunk twice when I was a teenager, did not like it, and have limited my alcohol intake since to one sip of wine every five years or so. I have on occasion contemplated voting for the Prohibitionist Party candidate for president, and would be happy to empty out the family liquor cabinet if my wife would let me (except for the vermouth that I need for my dynamite mustard sauce.) I think one of the reasons why none of our three adult children drink is because neither my wife nor I do.So I hope the Committee of Concern someday goes one step further and suggests that parents think about curtailing their own alcohol use while they have teenagers at home. No matter what they say or don’t say to their children, their example still had great power. I learned this while researching a book on our best public high schools. I visited one of the regular high school keg parties conducted in the Sheldrake Woods near a country club in Mamaroneck, N.Y. I nearly broke a leg tripping over tree roots in the dark, but eventually I found the party — several dozen teenagers, bundled up against the November chill, standing around with plastic cups of beer in their hands, making light conversation.
Of course, were it not for zero tolerance policies, the high school kids wouldn’t need to throw keggers in the woods — keggers where they’ll drink more than they otherwise would, given the limited time they can partake of the alcohol, and keggers that they’ll inevitably try to drive home from.
Also, does anyone else find the fact that high school kids drink beer in the woods decidedly less troubling than the thought of a columnist skulking about in the dark, watching them?
They were making light conversation, oh the horror.
and drinking from PLASTIC! cups. Will it never end?!?! think of the children!
Funny, I have fond memories of sitting around in the desert during HS drinking from plastic cups making light conversation.
I weep for the current college students.
Just what I need, a group of morons telling me how to raise my children.
I agree, it is very creepy that this guy is spying on teenage kids.
Jay Matthews worries that “somewhere, someone is enjoying themselves. This will not stand.” F’n nutcase. GET A LIFE!
The entire concept is circular reasoning.
If the childrens’ parents had such great influence over them, then wouldn’t drinking responsibly be the example they want set?
Logically all he can argue is “It’s wrong to get plowed every night in front of your kids.”
Duh.
Clueless moron. Move on.
Evan Williams–There is a lot of evidence that zero tolerance policies work in everything from sex education to drug and alcohol use. Perhaps your parents and teachers should have set a better example.
One of the things I hope to be able to do is pass this knowledge onto the great people of Iraq, along with plenty of your tax dollars.
A combination of our weird puritan relationship to booze and zero-tolerance policies are clearly responsible for the binge-drinking and inability for America’s youth to consume alcohol responsibly. Just go to any country (most of Europe for example) where booze is no big deal and young people are exposed to it and it is simply a normal part of life. In these places alcohol-related problems of the kind that we have are not terribly common and are particularly uncommon among young people.
I was always allowed to drink at home (beer, wine) and while I “tied one on” quite a few times in High School, I saw little allure in getting drunk in college.
If the childrens’ parents had such great influence over them, then wouldn’t drinking responsibly be the example they want set?
Not for neoprohibitionists, Doug. As Matthews so unabashedly admitted, he contemplated voting for the prohibitionist presidential candidate a few times. This isn’t about safety, this isn’t about repsonsibility, this is about Matthews’ subjective morality (i.e. prohibition) being laid upon the rest of us sinners. You can cut the smugness with a knife when he proudly declares that he only has a sip of wine every 5 years, and his kids (supposedly) don’t drink either. Well, that’s all well and good for HIS children (if it’s true), but as for myself, and as for MY children, Matthews has no say. I am a responsible drinker. I want my children to grow up to be responsible drinkers; I am a wine and beer expert, and I see these things as cultural necessities and true art forms. I would never seek to deprive my children of these wonders of humanity, all in the name of some subjective morality.
So, I will be a responsible drinker, as always, and hopefully my children will follow in my footsteps. If I had a different POV, like Matthews’, then I would hope my kids never drank. But I would never force my subjective views on some other parents, as long as they are responsible. This is where Matthews errs. His desire to force his close-minded, self-righteous beliefs on others is deplorable, and even moreso, given the whole underlying Maude Flanders “won’t somebody PLEASE think of the children” theme.
Lee – Funny thing, I have memories of sitting in the desert drinking sidiqqi straight from the big green bottle.
When the security guards came by, we didn’t get in trouble so long as we had a spare bottle for them.
And golly gee whillakers, I survived.
Um. Yeah. So I grew up in Saudi Arabia, Zero tolerance capital of the world.