My friends and I never drank. And I went to an ultra competitive high stress school.
95
Life is hard, so let's drink ourselves into oblivion. Great coping mechanism. I'm sure this is going to work out really well for this generation.
72
It isn't stress the makes young people drink. It's insecurity and poor judgment. Every generation has done this, and there is always some analysis about why. If it really is stress, these kids are in for quite a shock, because life only gets more stressful and difficult as time goes on. Believe me, you are at a very privileged time of time, my friend.
As an aside, why didn't the Times correct the grammatical errors in this piece? There are multiple comma splices, a mistake I am constantly correcting in my students' essays. Shouldn't editors fix this kind of thing: "I know that drinking is part of the college experience, you hang out with some friends... ."
As an aside, why didn't the Times correct the grammatical errors in this piece? There are multiple comma splices, a mistake I am constantly correcting in my students' essays. Shouldn't editors fix this kind of thing: "I know that drinking is part of the college experience, you hang out with some friends... ."
120
“I think it’s the stress.”
No. You don’t get to say that! Stress is raising 4 young children on a part-time minimum wage salary without any family to care for your children and a government and 1%rs who say “It’s your fault for having so many kids!”
Stress is my running a free clinic in an “underserved area” (that means doctors don’t come here as they can’t make millions) and trying to care for patients with multiple chronic health issues and NO MONEY to pay for insulin, blood pressure drugs, Epi-pens, and other life saving meds such as antibiotics! These folks have an average life span 20 years LESS than that of wealthier Americans.
Stress is a poor Texas woman who is unable to get birth control, then pre-natal counseling and visits and followup care. The death rate among these women has DOUBLED since they closed women’s clinics in addition to Planned Parenthood funding.
Since WHEN did health become a privilege rather than a right?
Don’t talk to me or anyone else about “stress.” Give me a BREAK you self-centered college students!
Yeah I worked two jobs in college and never drank one ounce of any alcohol--still don’t..why? Because the lives of other people are at stake--and that includes drunk driving or using a gun while drinking.
No. You don’t get to say that! Stress is raising 4 young children on a part-time minimum wage salary without any family to care for your children and a government and 1%rs who say “It’s your fault for having so many kids!”
Stress is my running a free clinic in an “underserved area” (that means doctors don’t come here as they can’t make millions) and trying to care for patients with multiple chronic health issues and NO MONEY to pay for insulin, blood pressure drugs, Epi-pens, and other life saving meds such as antibiotics! These folks have an average life span 20 years LESS than that of wealthier Americans.
Stress is a poor Texas woman who is unable to get birth control, then pre-natal counseling and visits and followup care. The death rate among these women has DOUBLED since they closed women’s clinics in addition to Planned Parenthood funding.
Since WHEN did health become a privilege rather than a right?
Don’t talk to me or anyone else about “stress.” Give me a BREAK you self-centered college students!
Yeah I worked two jobs in college and never drank one ounce of any alcohol--still don’t..why? Because the lives of other people are at stake--and that includes drunk driving or using a gun while drinking.
294
Kids these days. They need to start smoking more pot. It's safer.
89
How much of the absurd narcotic and/or alcohol-fueled behavior is done to brag about it on snapchat?
27
My daughter attender a small liberal arts school upstate Ny
She is now earning 85k a year at age 28.
She said the story is 1000% correct,except it starts Thurday nights
She is now earning 85k a year at age 28.
She said the story is 1000% correct,except it starts Thurday nights
65
Recently, I was watching a show called 'Shameless' and in this show there's a promising young man who came from nothing but ended up in an amazing college. He got a full ride to school and was very diligent when it came to completing his studies but he also partied most of the time. This young man who not only graduated with higher than a 4.0 GPA from high school, was expelled from his college. His academic records and great achievements didn't help him when it came to drinking in college. He got extremely drunk multiple times, ended up in the hospital, fired from a job, he even ended up in jail . Due to his drinking habits, his whole life was ruined. He now has to restart his life, where if he didn't drink excessively and become an alcoholic, he could've gone extremely far but now he's a dead beat when he could've been a millionaire. So learn from others mistakes, whether its fictional or real you can still make good decisions on your own. So, don't drink in college. Do your work.
54
USA colleges have many things to be proud of. Frat & drink culture it is *NOT* one of them.
44
I assumed people went to college to find something new. "I'm bored and stressed, therefore I drink" doesn't sound like much of a program of self-discovery. It's on the level of "I live in the ghetto, therefore I deal drugs," or "I'm a redneck, therefore I have contempt for knowledge."
42
The only accurate lines from this essay:
"There is also a tacit understanding that blacking out works as a kind of “get out of jail free card.” A person can say or do any number of hurtful or embarrassing things and be granted immunity with the simple excuse that they were “blackout” that night."
"There is also a tacit understanding that blacking out works as a kind of “get out of jail free card.” A person can say or do any number of hurtful or embarrassing things and be granted immunity with the simple excuse that they were “blackout” that night."
29
Don't kid yourself. This starts in high school. But without curfews or having to face the parental unit the next day, college kicks drinking up to a crazy level. Here's what I don't get. Why would girls choose to drink so much that they put themselves at great risk by being too drunk to resist the advances of predatory males at the party? Maybe we need to bring back dorm curfews, house mothers and chaperones? Maybe too few rules put kids in free fall?
47
Enjoy rehab! (I hope you make it there, and soon...)
These are the kids of the now 40 and 50 somethings who thought their parents didn't pay enough attention to them, who were going to be "cool" parents, not the strict, content-to-go-to-the-same-job for 35 years, "losers" they saw their parents as. This is what you get, everyone! Borderline narcissists who resort to unrealistic nihilistic thoughts and ultimately self-destructive behavior. I'm not saying that we should go back to spanking our kids, but following them around with a bottle of Purell and a lifetime of "you're amazing"'s isn't all that great either.......
These are the kids of the now 40 and 50 somethings who thought their parents didn't pay enough attention to them, who were going to be "cool" parents, not the strict, content-to-go-to-the-same-job for 35 years, "losers" they saw their parents as. This is what you get, everyone! Borderline narcissists who resort to unrealistic nihilistic thoughts and ultimately self-destructive behavior. I'm not saying that we should go back to spanking our kids, but following them around with a bottle of Purell and a lifetime of "you're amazing"'s isn't all that great either.......
45
Lots of 'college kids have always blacked out, no big deal' in the comment section. Yes, they always have, but there was a time you could pay for a year of college after a summer of painting houses or with a part-time job during school. At $24,000-76,000 per year, kids are 'playing' with very real money. With the sky-high cost comes increased expectations. Further, UNC is a strong school where sharp kids can juggle the partying and still graduate (on time). For the majority of students, partying leads to either dropping out or taking five and six years to finish a four year bachelors.
24
Dang, those days were so much fun. Growing old is such a drag.
21
The writer either doesn't understand or didn't mention that there is a "cross-over" line in terms of the amount of acohol a person can consume and recover from, and a lethal dose. And, somebody in a blackout can't determine where the line is. And, if their friends are also in blackouts, they can't be relied on to make good decisions for others. Also, that kind of heavy drinking is indicative, in some cases, of the disease of alcoholism. And, yes, at 18, the brain is still developing and brain cells are being killed off. As an alcoholic who is 41 years sober, I know first hand that sometimes the things that happen during blackouts take years to recover from, after sobriety. People often get wounded, not only physically, but emotionally. Really bad things can happen during blackouts.
My nephew went to a big college and in freshman year there was a fellow in the dorm that had earned the name "Blackout Ken." Where were the dorm monitors and powers-that-be at the school that could have helped this young man? Why didn't another student anonymously disclose his fellow student's destructive drinking? My nephew has graduated, but I think about "Blackout Ken" and hope he eventually got help. He certainly didn't get it from the institution that his parents were paying for.
My nephew went to a big college and in freshman year there was a fellow in the dorm that had earned the name "Blackout Ken." Where were the dorm monitors and powers-that-be at the school that could have helped this young man? Why didn't another student anonymously disclose his fellow student's destructive drinking? My nephew has graduated, but I think about "Blackout Ken" and hope he eventually got help. He certainly didn't get it from the institution that his parents were paying for.
47
Youth seem to have been drinking to excess for millennia. My own history goes back 70 years and we had a saying "Sober as a judge's son". The "roaring twenties"? The drunken scenes of gin soaked London, etc. Antipodal stories are compelling, but must be backed up by solid statistics. Should the problem be ignored? Of course not, but we need a marathon approach to the issue that has been with up and will be with us for generations to come, not a OMG sprint to an emerging catastrophe.
10
Maybe this is the best reason to legalize recreational marijuana?
33
This is ridiculous. The kids should smoke pot. It's easy to get, it would help them relax, and they won't vomit their guts out.
47
What a bunch of whining spineless cry babies Millennials have turned into. You know what would help you all with your "stress?" Read a book. Read about the generation of Americans who died on Europe's battlefields so you could "black out" because you can't face a test. Read about hitting a beach with German 88s and Stukas diving at you take you to hell. You'll find out what stress is and then you won't have to black out. You can cry a little and then buck up.
82
As an occasional ER translator, I've seen a few results of blackouts (alcohol poisoning) over the years. May I suggest that instead of "rush" potential frat members should be given a golden opportunity to get a head start on community service by volunteering in an ER to see how "cool" excess drinking is?
There's the part in the ER process where they try to force you to vomit --- but only on your side so as not to impede breathing --- and you vomit all over someone else's shoes --- maybe someone who is trying to help you and save your sorry life. So much fun! Worth the price of admission to see what a hot ticket you are. My favorite is when they ask for a urine sample --- but you're so out of it you can't stand up --- and besides you're peeing all over yourself anyhow -- so a nurse comes, shaves your pubes, and sticks a baggie on you --- and if you flail and rip the thing off and spray urine all over someone else, you get extra points for cool. And there is that point where you grab the IV they've given you to get some real fluid in you and you start grabbing it --- spraying your blood all over everything and everyone and necessitating a "biohazard" operation. Wow you are really the center of attention.
I bet a few of these frat/sorority types might be a little less inclined to blackout drinking if they got to see/participate in an alcohol poisoning clean out!
There's the part in the ER process where they try to force you to vomit --- but only on your side so as not to impede breathing --- and you vomit all over someone else's shoes --- maybe someone who is trying to help you and save your sorry life. So much fun! Worth the price of admission to see what a hot ticket you are. My favorite is when they ask for a urine sample --- but you're so out of it you can't stand up --- and besides you're peeing all over yourself anyhow -- so a nurse comes, shaves your pubes, and sticks a baggie on you --- and if you flail and rip the thing off and spray urine all over someone else, you get extra points for cool. And there is that point where you grab the IV they've given you to get some real fluid in you and you start grabbing it --- spraying your blood all over everything and everyone and necessitating a "biohazard" operation. Wow you are really the center of attention.
I bet a few of these frat/sorority types might be a little less inclined to blackout drinking if they got to see/participate in an alcohol poisoning clean out!
31
In related news, a woman in Houston released a heartbreaking picture of herself from the hospital. A year ago a Sam Houston State student got wasted while river tubing, drove drunk, and killed this woman's husband and child.
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Stories like these make me wonder if we should focus more on stopping drunk driving and less on coddling students. I frankly don't care if a college student or anyone else drinks themselves into oblivion in the confines of their own dorm room - as long as their roommate isn't traumatized by finding them dead the next morning. I DO care if they decide to get behind the wheel after getting drunk, and then manage to kill or seriously injure another person in a crash.
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Stories like these make me wonder if we should focus more on stopping drunk driving and less on coddling students. I frankly don't care if a college student or anyone else drinks themselves into oblivion in the confines of their own dorm room - as long as their roommate isn't traumatized by finding them dead the next morning. I DO care if they decide to get behind the wheel after getting drunk, and then manage to kill or seriously injure another person in a crash.
13
"A person can say or do any number of hurtful or embarrassing things and be granted immunity with the simple excuse that they were “blackout” that night. People accept this with no question. Blacking out therefore becomes a way to avoid responsibility. Of course, this mentality backfires with issues such as sexual assault when people are held accountable for their actions."
This really hits home. I worked with a survivor on a sexual assault case where the perpetrator claimed in text messages the next day that he was "blackout drunk" and "couldn't remember anything." When he was told by the police that alcohol was not an excuse for committing a crime, all of a sudden, he DID remember. He provided a four page police report with all the little details of the night, in an effort to refute the victim's side of the story. Students need to be told from DAY ONE that alcohol does not diminish responsibility for committing a crime, whether that's driving drunk, punching a hole in the wall, or sexually assaulting someone.
This really hits home. I worked with a survivor on a sexual assault case where the perpetrator claimed in text messages the next day that he was "blackout drunk" and "couldn't remember anything." When he was told by the police that alcohol was not an excuse for committing a crime, all of a sudden, he DID remember. He provided a four page police report with all the little details of the night, in an effort to refute the victim's side of the story. Students need to be told from DAY ONE that alcohol does not diminish responsibility for committing a crime, whether that's driving drunk, punching a hole in the wall, or sexually assaulting someone.
16
Consider reading Barrett Seaman's book, Binge. A real eye-opener.
6
I wonder if the 21-yr-old drinking age has something to do with it. We baby -boomers definitely overdid it on occasion (to say the least ), but we did learn to drink at an earlier age, so a pitcher of beer with pizza shared at pub did not usually lead to blacking out.
11
I sometimes wonder if I'm reading the Onion rather than the opinion pages of the New York Times. Here we have the privileged writing about blackout drinking as if it was invented by this current generation. The comments echo chamber reinforces it. Of course it's the stress of high competition, or the crushing burden of student loans, or subtle encouragement from mommy and daddy, or paralyzing fear whether you will get into Harvard Law or have to settle for Columbia. It never occurs to the opinion piece writer or the commentariat that people that go to second and third tier state schools get just as drunk, and have blackouts just as often as Dukies. In fact, stop by the bar in your hometown where the losers hang out, the ones who never went to college. You're going to find them sitting at the bar nightly, getting hammered and blackout drunk. Face it, it's what young people do. At some point you stop doing that. If you don't, you're an alcoholic whose life spirals down. When you hit bottom, you either pull yourself up and get straight, or you become one of the hopeless cases. You're not unique, little snowflakes.
42
It is just a meeting of Future Alcoholics of America. Are these poor overworked drunken geniuses that same children who need "safe spaces" and "trigger warnings" to avoid unkind words and thoughts contrary to their stupor-oriented worldviews?
15
I guess people have time to drink on weekends with their friends because they can cheat on the curriculum
7
No. It is not due to fear of low employment potential. IT IS DUE TO the bizarre devil’s hand shake of Indoctucation.
Young, fairly innocent children have been over-protected and denied a moment of unsupervised activity by their hyper competitive parents. The movie ANIMAL HOUSE from my generation was recognized by my generation as having occurred in the past, say late 50’s early 60’s. But 2 generations have been deluded that the film portrays a “cool” college experience.
Sheltered children are given a wink and expected to party and hook up. Yet, their first weekend home, Thanksgiving they are internally stressed by their now debauched character while seeming to remain innocent in their parents’ eyes.
Here’s the deal: accept the entire post-modern worldview, and no guilt or shame will be felt over their hook ups and black outs. What a deal. The need to be kewl merges with the animal lusts of young adults with their inhibitions washed away by booze and all they have to do is mock earnest adult-emulating behavior.
Young, fairly innocent children have been over-protected and denied a moment of unsupervised activity by their hyper competitive parents. The movie ANIMAL HOUSE from my generation was recognized by my generation as having occurred in the past, say late 50’s early 60’s. But 2 generations have been deluded that the film portrays a “cool” college experience.
Sheltered children are given a wink and expected to party and hook up. Yet, their first weekend home, Thanksgiving they are internally stressed by their now debauched character while seeming to remain innocent in their parents’ eyes.
Here’s the deal: accept the entire post-modern worldview, and no guilt or shame will be felt over their hook ups and black outs. What a deal. The need to be kewl merges with the animal lusts of young adults with their inhibitions washed away by booze and all they have to do is mock earnest adult-emulating behavior.
9
I went to the University of Georgia in the mid 1970's and it was known as a party school. This is the key -- we could legally drink at the age of 18. You do not drink to black out if you can legally drink in a bar. We had kegs all over campus, in the sorority houses, in the fraternity houses, beer in our fridges in the dorms. In fact, going to a bar for quarter beer night was more about meeting boys than the actual drinking. If you got too drunk, there was a bouncer there to throw you out. The only thing the 21 year age for legal drinking has done is what this author describes -- driven all drinking underground and made all drinking in college some version of a binge. Alcohol has its ills but Prohibition has even more. Funny we didn't learn that lesson before.
45
I had the good fortune to develop an early affinity for sugar Cokes, Dr. Brown’s Black Cherry soda, pastrami, corned beef and beef tongue sandwiches on Jewish rye drenched in deli mustard or Russian dressing, kosher hot dogs wrapped in bologna served up on old fashioned rye-bread rolls accompanied by Kosher dill pickles,
platefuls of large onion rings heavy on the grease,
fresh made-up coleslaw heavy on the mayo and large slabs of cherry cheese cake. College students looking for a better way way than alcohol to make peace with the world should give these a try. They may not have all the advantages of a strict vegetarian diet, but they got the job done.
platefuls of large onion rings heavy on the grease,
fresh made-up coleslaw heavy on the mayo and large slabs of cherry cheese cake. College students looking for a better way way than alcohol to make peace with the world should give these a try. They may not have all the advantages of a strict vegetarian diet, but they got the job done.
15
While in Germany, I saw the dorms where my daughter was living as an exchange student in Munich. The Studentenstadt, on Grasmeierstrasse near Leopold, housed students in rooms, pretty much like every other dorm in student-land.
What was different was the 6 ft. high stacks of German bier, in the middle of the common kitchen area.
I can only guess what a stack of beer (American spelling) would do to a new cadre of freshman drinking enthusiasts on American campuses.
But why do they drink to excess?
I think part of the reason is that alcohol is forbidden...kept away from them, entirely, until they are 21, supposedly, which makes the young students even more frothy for fireworks in libations. What you cannot have...will drive you. So say the marketing specialists. And it would seem to be true in this case.
So...some might ask were the German students drunkards? No.
Why? Because they're introduced to it, alcohol, at a young age as a normal thing to do, in moderation. Some will clamor here with alcoholic statistics from Germany. I'm not aware of them, or arguing them. I'm looking at students. And German students had long dinner parties, with some drinking, while I was there, but it wasn't the main focus.
Now, maybe we can talk about sex in the same manner? Demystify it, and you can't use it to sell everything with commercials, but you might end up saving your own children. Germany has. Maybe we could learn something?
What was different was the 6 ft. high stacks of German bier, in the middle of the common kitchen area.
I can only guess what a stack of beer (American spelling) would do to a new cadre of freshman drinking enthusiasts on American campuses.
But why do they drink to excess?
I think part of the reason is that alcohol is forbidden...kept away from them, entirely, until they are 21, supposedly, which makes the young students even more frothy for fireworks in libations. What you cannot have...will drive you. So say the marketing specialists. And it would seem to be true in this case.
So...some might ask were the German students drunkards? No.
Why? Because they're introduced to it, alcohol, at a young age as a normal thing to do, in moderation. Some will clamor here with alcoholic statistics from Germany. I'm not aware of them, or arguing them. I'm looking at students. And German students had long dinner parties, with some drinking, while I was there, but it wasn't the main focus.
Now, maybe we can talk about sex in the same manner? Demystify it, and you can't use it to sell everything with commercials, but you might end up saving your own children. Germany has. Maybe we could learn something?
58
Sorry, Ms Carrick, the excuses that you represent as reasons for the 'blackout culture' are not adequate for such a risky behavior. Stress is growing up in Syria, or Mexico or American inner cities, or any number of places in the world where freedom and opportunities are elusive. College is a time to find the areas that interest you and that you excel in, and to build relationships. Careers may change several times over a lifetime. 'Blackout drinking' sounds like a way to drop out of supposed parental expectations, personal responsibility, and self-respect. It is cowardly. Perhaps 'blackout drinking is for WIMPS' should be part of a new college culture.
At the excessive cost of a college education today, perhaps it is time for more schools to break up this 4 year cocoon, and provide more 5 or 6 year work study programs.
At the excessive cost of a college education today, perhaps it is time for more schools to break up this 4 year cocoon, and provide more 5 or 6 year work study programs.
17
If North Carolina, et alii., were to legalize cannabis perhaps this problem of dangerous drinking would blow away. Having a little too much of the herb might only end in a good nap or a wonderful conversation with a new friend, not a visit to the emergency ward.
Go to the CDC website to see how many people die from drinking. You already know the facts, but go check it out anyway.
Since drinking can end in death, we adults need to teach our kids that, given a choice, it's less okay drinking alcohol than it is ingesting herb, and that ingesting the herb is a better choice--if you choose to ingest anything--because it can't kill you. And it can make you happy. Alcohol just makes you stoopid.
Cannabis has no price to pay--or, if it has one, it's tiny compared to alcohol's deadly menace. (Despite the propaganda you've heard from our own gov about the plant, cannabis can actually make you a better student.) Since it doesn't kill and can treat the issues that students face--anxiety, depression, awkward social situations, etc., etc.--let us middle-agers/parents show the young what cannabis is worth. After all, kids learn to drink not from their buddies in college, but from their parents' drinking at home.
[Note: Despite what I've written, cannabis is really not analogous to alcohol--I'm making a simple argument here about the importance of choice. Cannabis is much more analogous to coffee/caffeine.]
Go to the CDC website to see how many people die from drinking. You already know the facts, but go check it out anyway.
Since drinking can end in death, we adults need to teach our kids that, given a choice, it's less okay drinking alcohol than it is ingesting herb, and that ingesting the herb is a better choice--if you choose to ingest anything--because it can't kill you. And it can make you happy. Alcohol just makes you stoopid.
Cannabis has no price to pay--or, if it has one, it's tiny compared to alcohol's deadly menace. (Despite the propaganda you've heard from our own gov about the plant, cannabis can actually make you a better student.) Since it doesn't kill and can treat the issues that students face--anxiety, depression, awkward social situations, etc., etc.--let us middle-agers/parents show the young what cannabis is worth. After all, kids learn to drink not from their buddies in college, but from their parents' drinking at home.
[Note: Despite what I've written, cannabis is really not analogous to alcohol--I'm making a simple argument here about the importance of choice. Cannabis is much more analogous to coffee/caffeine.]
9
It is not just academic pressure
Ms Carrick writes
"We joke the next day about how ridiculous our friends looked ....while dancing and making out with some random guy" .. blacking out works as a kind of “get out of jail free card.”
It is way of enjoying guilt free sex.
Ms Carrick writes
"We joke the next day about how ridiculous our friends looked ....while dancing and making out with some random guy" .. blacking out works as a kind of “get out of jail free card.”
It is way of enjoying guilt free sex.
13
I wonder what our WWII, Korea/Vietnam, Iraq/Afghanistan ++ vets think about our 'stressed' undergrads. Time to revive mandatory service, whether military or to an area of need where stress truly exists.
20
I am still astonished that at my small upstate SUNY College the library did not open until noon on Saturdays & Sundays.
It would have been a reason to get up early and not party all weekend.
It would have been a reason to get up early and not party all weekend.
5
Pressure? Real pressure is when you're living at the library and pounding your computer keys 24/7. If you have time to drink in the all-day rituals described here, you're not under real pressure. A rude awakening will occur when real work deadlines are part of daily life.
Dear students, pull your face away from that bottle, get away from those sloshed friends, and discover the world. This is your time to explore; you will never be so free of obligation and real pressure. There are really interesting people out there to meet, ideas you've never considered before, locations entirely unlike your hometown. Put down that junk in the cup and go for it. Spending even one minute of your precious time "blacked out" is tragic.
Dear students, pull your face away from that bottle, get away from those sloshed friends, and discover the world. This is your time to explore; you will never be so free of obligation and real pressure. There are really interesting people out there to meet, ideas you've never considered before, locations entirely unlike your hometown. Put down that junk in the cup and go for it. Spending even one minute of your precious time "blacked out" is tragic.
25
"(Drinking to the point of blacking out is) a mutually recognized method of stress relief. To treat it as anything else would be judgmental."
What's wrong with being judgmental about people doing really stupid things?
What's wrong with being judgmental about people doing really stupid things?
31
It saddens me to hear of young people drinking so much vodka when there are affordable and much tastier whiskies available.
6
The author says "I think it's the stress." Wait, partying on Friday night and being wasted on Saturday (and probably Sunday as well)? All I can say is that at the co-op house of 35 students at MIT that I lived in, just about everybody was studying on Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday. I never saw a member of the house actually drunk. Who had time for carousing? This was back in the late 50s and early 60s.
If the students in the column have to drink because they are so stressed out, perhaps using that blackout time to study would have relieved the stress much more effectively. It's crazy to say "I have so much work to do that I'll waste a couple of days every week in which I won't do any work." I'm seeing why grade inflation is occurring...
If the students in the column have to drink because they are so stressed out, perhaps using that blackout time to study would have relieved the stress much more effectively. It's crazy to say "I have so much work to do that I'll waste a couple of days every week in which I won't do any work." I'm seeing why grade inflation is occurring...
25
No, it is not the stress causing drinking to black out. It's the youth culture.
College has always been stressful--in my day at a large state university it was a challenge just to stay in school because this was before grade inflation. C was the standard grade; A's were very rare; and D's and F's were entirely possible. I learned a lot, by the way. No one cared if you flunked out of school or simply withdrew. No whining.
The week nights were for studying just to keep your head above water in class; very heavy reading assignments. The weekends were for fun. But, especially if you were a woman and got drunk, you were a sad case, to be pitied. Same for guys if they did it repeatedly. Pitiful; take some pride in yourself and get your act together.
"To treat it as anything else would be judgmental." And having raised 3 daughters with 13 years difference between the oldest and youngest, the above statement is what separates the generations. My generation was very judgmental, and we did not want our friends to get hurt or make fools out of themselves. So we looked out for each other; told each other off. "Are you crazy going out with that guy," "drinking until you pass out" etc.? "Take care of yourself, have pride in who you are; we love you but you need to straighten up"--tough love among friends who truly cared. We behaved partly because we didn't want to let our friends down. It was somewhat like this for oldest daughter, but changed.
Be judgmental and care!
College has always been stressful--in my day at a large state university it was a challenge just to stay in school because this was before grade inflation. C was the standard grade; A's were very rare; and D's and F's were entirely possible. I learned a lot, by the way. No one cared if you flunked out of school or simply withdrew. No whining.
The week nights were for studying just to keep your head above water in class; very heavy reading assignments. The weekends were for fun. But, especially if you were a woman and got drunk, you were a sad case, to be pitied. Same for guys if they did it repeatedly. Pitiful; take some pride in yourself and get your act together.
"To treat it as anything else would be judgmental." And having raised 3 daughters with 13 years difference between the oldest and youngest, the above statement is what separates the generations. My generation was very judgmental, and we did not want our friends to get hurt or make fools out of themselves. So we looked out for each other; told each other off. "Are you crazy going out with that guy," "drinking until you pass out" etc.? "Take care of yourself, have pride in who you are; we love you but you need to straighten up"--tough love among friends who truly cared. We behaved partly because we didn't want to let our friends down. It was somewhat like this for oldest daughter, but changed.
Be judgmental and care!
15
America's religious aversion to alcohol (to everything) is to blame. When kids escape the shackles of their upbringing, they go wild. Sproing!
People in Italy and France don't have this problem. They drink responsibly: wine with meals, starting pretty early, and perhaps a digestif or liqueur after dinner. Binge drinking is all but unknown.
People in Italy and France don't have this problem. They drink responsibly: wine with meals, starting pretty early, and perhaps a digestif or liqueur after dinner. Binge drinking is all but unknown.
7
I don't buy this theory that stress and competition are the cause of black-out drinking. I can see how convenient it would be to blame one's drinking on outside factors, but you know, this level of drinking also goes on among college football players pulling a 2.9 GPA, and I don't think they're getting wasted because they're anxious about Saturday's game. Kids leave home, whether for college or work, are suddenly unsupervised, don't know their limits, and haven't yet realized the consequences of heavy drinking. Most figure it out, some become lifelong alcoholics. Unfortunately, I think it's that simple.
9
Who says we don't have a drug abuse problem in the US?
2
Kids drink to have fun....end of story
6
Sounds exactly like the 80s, but with less cocaine and more Molly.
6
I went to college in the early 70's and we did spend some time drinking and smoking, but that was just the backdrop to what we were actually doing which was TALKING TO EACH OTHER.
Now it seems you willingly turn yourself into a "prop" thinking only about the on-line posting you will make. So others can - what? type LOL?
How pathetic!
and another example of how smartphone addiction is probably the most debilitating addiction of all.
Now it seems you willingly turn yourself into a "prop" thinking only about the on-line posting you will make. So others can - what? type LOL?
How pathetic!
and another example of how smartphone addiction is probably the most debilitating addiction of all.
11
Alcoholics have such creative excuses!
12
How do people who do not use "blackout" ,to handle stress in life, handle their stress in life?
6
This is the bitter fruit of the secular atheist culture America has created for our young people.
Nothing to believe in, nothing to live for.
Nothing to believe in, nothing to live for.
5
The whole point of going to college is to give you a chance to meet your (first) spouse and/or to engage in your first (mature) sexual relationship. All else is a tiresome impediment to accomplishing the primary goal.
Stress is an impediment. Therefore, never matriculate at a school where you're not, academically speaking, automatically in the top 25% of your class. College is too important to waste in straining after grades which can easily be obtained with a better fit.
Stress is an impediment. Therefore, never matriculate at a school where you're not, academically speaking, automatically in the top 25% of your class. College is too important to waste in straining after grades which can easily be obtained with a better fit.
6
This tells me that those kids are not ready for higher education.
As my generation used to say, "reality bites".
As my generation used to say, "reality bites".
5
thank you for providing some insight into what has been an unfathomable phenomenon.
1
Ashton, college is a place where you not only learn to think constructively, but amass the tools that allow you to draw on any number of strategies to help your mind get from a to z. Writing fluff-fill generalities drives the reader to drink and renders nothing.
Seriously Ashton, binge drinking to the blackout stage only means that you don't remember the drinking and the root cause of your "insanely competitive" angst still sits on your desktop. You have no more a stressful environment than any other students had at any other time. Don't flatter yourself that your intellectual life is so much more difficult that partying hard is the only escape.
Your conclusion (the competitive over achievers section) makes my toes curl. Uptight? Read a book. Take a walk. Practice a musical instrument or learn one. Draw. Write. But don't fluff off with some esoteric "forgetting will always be the best option" statement.
When the mortgage comes due, the kids are sick, your boss is a pig and you are dead ended in your life, that might be the time to cry "stressed out" but until that time, when you have real life pressure, you might want to put a sock on it.
Seriously Ashton, binge drinking to the blackout stage only means that you don't remember the drinking and the root cause of your "insanely competitive" angst still sits on your desktop. You have no more a stressful environment than any other students had at any other time. Don't flatter yourself that your intellectual life is so much more difficult that partying hard is the only escape.
Your conclusion (the competitive over achievers section) makes my toes curl. Uptight? Read a book. Take a walk. Practice a musical instrument or learn one. Draw. Write. But don't fluff off with some esoteric "forgetting will always be the best option" statement.
When the mortgage comes due, the kids are sick, your boss is a pig and you are dead ended in your life, that might be the time to cry "stressed out" but until that time, when you have real life pressure, you might want to put a sock on it.
12
Legalize marijuana. Replace "binge drinking to excess" with "enjoying a joint with your friends and listening to mellow music, watching a movie, or playing a guitar." I graduated college two years ago and did both on a weekly basis, and I can tell you which one I enjoyed more and was less harmful to my mental and physical health. It wasn't the one that left me feeling like the protagonist of "Sunday Morning Coming Down"
11
Was this story written 40 somewhat years ago? Seems like back to the future.
9
It's a myth that blackout drinking helps alleviate stress. It makes people more vulnerable to being either a perpetrator or victim of violence, rape, death, and more.
There are no free passes, just the illusion of it. When consequences are viewed mostly in terms of grades and job offers, things like self-respect, developing coping skills, physical health and mental well-being are overlooked.
So you didn't get pulled over this time, or you managed to make it home intact. You can't recall the night before because you blacked out. Forgetting doesn't erase your real transgressions against others, and yourself, simply because you can't recall them.
I'm a person in long-term recovery from alcoholism who "partied" hard in college. I speak from experience. For starters, can we stop calling drug abuse, because that's what it is, "partying?"
There are no free passes, just the illusion of it. When consequences are viewed mostly in terms of grades and job offers, things like self-respect, developing coping skills, physical health and mental well-being are overlooked.
So you didn't get pulled over this time, or you managed to make it home intact. You can't recall the night before because you blacked out. Forgetting doesn't erase your real transgressions against others, and yourself, simply because you can't recall them.
I'm a person in long-term recovery from alcoholism who "partied" hard in college. I speak from experience. For starters, can we stop calling drug abuse, because that's what it is, "partying?"
89
Most people realize this is a temporary period in their lives and then pine about it for the rest, while they toil away in "jobs" that fulfill them economically but not mentally/spiritually.
2
Drinking to blackout, casual sex on a first date, doing recreational drugs, pressure to be perfect, etc, etc. This was all there when I went to college 40 years ago. Now, you just get to continue paying for long after you graduate.
7
Blackout does go away, as a student promotes their way out of that "loser/sad/unhealthy/disgusting" environment. These lousy students get weeded-out and remain in their unintelligent kiddie play little league pool. They really are unfit to be real students.
It is too bad that Higher Education Accreditation does not enforce reasonable standards. Even K-12 Accreditation. There is always hope for NEW EXPECTATIONS in the Future.
Plus, IQ Testing does not stop at First Grade. These students need to be AWARE that they are tested through 50 Years Old. They are wasting their lives away. They are horribly affecting their Futures. Job Placement looks at these scores.
"The Personal is Professional": People wanting to be hired at the most prestigious firms/workplaces/job titles (especially Executive), discover this phrase sometimes when they don't get the job, don't get invited and are told exactly why!! Immaturity. Not Qualified due to unprofessional behavior/decisions. There is no boundary between personal and work life. All the same.
Ashton Katherine Carrick, it looks like you are on the right track. Continue as you are, and you too could be a Highly-Ranked Professor someday! Maybe even #1 !! Congratulations for being published in The New York Times Newspaper.
It is too bad that Higher Education Accreditation does not enforce reasonable standards. Even K-12 Accreditation. There is always hope for NEW EXPECTATIONS in the Future.
Plus, IQ Testing does not stop at First Grade. These students need to be AWARE that they are tested through 50 Years Old. They are wasting their lives away. They are horribly affecting their Futures. Job Placement looks at these scores.
"The Personal is Professional": People wanting to be hired at the most prestigious firms/workplaces/job titles (especially Executive), discover this phrase sometimes when they don't get the job, don't get invited and are told exactly why!! Immaturity. Not Qualified due to unprofessional behavior/decisions. There is no boundary between personal and work life. All the same.
Ashton Katherine Carrick, it looks like you are on the right track. Continue as you are, and you too could be a Highly-Ranked Professor someday! Maybe even #1 !! Congratulations for being published in The New York Times Newspaper.
1
Or maybe freshman are children who don't know how to safely drink? Just like I was as a freshman?
2
Ashton, I am also a Carolina student. I suspect you're hanging out with the wrong people. I don't know anybody beyond their sophomore year who drinks they way you describe.
11
What incredibly risky and dangerous behavior! This should not be acceptable behavior.
1
"Stress"?
The author claims that college students are "victims" of high "stress".
Almost every individual throughout the world,has more daily "stress" than a college student.
Stop the nonsense.
Life is precious and short.
Make every day count.
Don't waste the gift of life on "blackouts".
The author claims that college students are "victims" of high "stress".
Almost every individual throughout the world,has more daily "stress" than a college student.
Stop the nonsense.
Life is precious and short.
Make every day count.
Don't waste the gift of life on "blackouts".
16
Find some different friends to hang out with. You are making a choice to associate with idiots. I have no sympathy.
8
Here's an idea, parents: Why not let your kids "fail" before they go to college?
I'm not talking about "take a slick gap year program after getting into prestigious college."
I mean: actually fail. Let them drop out. Let them get bad grades. Let them take crappy jobs and bum around. Let them make bad decisions and then make some good decisions and feel the difference.
How about letting them actually experience life. Make mistakes. Fall down. And get back up without mom and dad's hands under their armpits? Outside of a fancy "gap year" program. Let them have the gift of real life. No wonder they're numbing themselves: they've never had access to real life before. Just grades and demands and sham "passions" to open the "right" doors.
College is always out there. It's waiting for them . . . whenever they want to go. This is not a race. Colleges need them, not the other way around 70% of colleges do not fill.
My bet is that if parents allow their children to "fail" early, the children will develop genuine coping skills (cutting down on drinking); will develop a true career passion (rather than making one up for the admissions office); will actually want to attend college to learn (not because they don't know what else to do and mom and dad insist insist insist that college is the only choice and not just any college, but the 7 Ivies and the Little Ivy LACs). They will become better people.
I'm not talking about "take a slick gap year program after getting into prestigious college."
I mean: actually fail. Let them drop out. Let them get bad grades. Let them take crappy jobs and bum around. Let them make bad decisions and then make some good decisions and feel the difference.
How about letting them actually experience life. Make mistakes. Fall down. And get back up without mom and dad's hands under their armpits? Outside of a fancy "gap year" program. Let them have the gift of real life. No wonder they're numbing themselves: they've never had access to real life before. Just grades and demands and sham "passions" to open the "right" doors.
College is always out there. It's waiting for them . . . whenever they want to go. This is not a race. Colleges need them, not the other way around 70% of colleges do not fill.
My bet is that if parents allow their children to "fail" early, the children will develop genuine coping skills (cutting down on drinking); will develop a true career passion (rather than making one up for the admissions office); will actually want to attend college to learn (not because they don't know what else to do and mom and dad insist insist insist that college is the only choice and not just any college, but the 7 Ivies and the Little Ivy LACs). They will become better people.
12
Another reason not to go to college when you're 18.
6
Kids, feel free to do your blackout drinking at college. And I'll feel free to use your tuition money for a new car.
Love, Dad
Love, Dad
16
"At the end of the day, for a lot of students, forgetting will always be the best option"
You mean to say forgetting what the lecturers taught you on that day!
You mean to say forgetting what the lecturers taught you on that day!
3
I was too busy working 20 hours a week and carrying 15 units to "party" and get blackout drunk. And I avoided fraternity and sorority events like the plague because I didn't feel any affinity for those institutions. This was back in the late 1960's, when fraternities regularly held "slave auctions" so that frat boys could bid on the "services" of sorority women. What a giant turnoff that was. From what I gather, frat culture has changed in degree, but not in kind.
To cope with stress, I ran and hiked. I knew that getting drunk just made me feel lousy the next day. And if I have something unpleasant but true that absolutely needs to be said to somebody, I don't have to be drunk to say it. Sure, it's not fun, but it's a necessary life skill to be able to be frank with people about critical issues.
I do not understand this blackout drunk culture. I know kids face stress, but so does just about everyone. There are better ways to cope. And they don't cost as much as a kegger, or even a couple of litres of vodka.
How are these kids going to cope with the stresses of the working world? Because it doesn't necessarily get easier once you graduate and start working full-time, especially if you also get married and have a child or two. I hope by then these young people have figured out a better way to deal with stress. Because better ways exist.
To cope with stress, I ran and hiked. I knew that getting drunk just made me feel lousy the next day. And if I have something unpleasant but true that absolutely needs to be said to somebody, I don't have to be drunk to say it. Sure, it's not fun, but it's a necessary life skill to be able to be frank with people about critical issues.
I do not understand this blackout drunk culture. I know kids face stress, but so does just about everyone. There are better ways to cope. And they don't cost as much as a kegger, or even a couple of litres of vodka.
How are these kids going to cope with the stresses of the working world? Because it doesn't necessarily get easier once you graduate and start working full-time, especially if you also get married and have a child or two. I hope by then these young people have figured out a better way to deal with stress. Because better ways exist.
7
At one of our sororities a group of students brought a classmates home in an alcoholic stupor and left her in the bathroom when they went to bed. The house director (what we used to call a housemother) found her, and unable to revive her, called the life squad which took her to the ER. The diagnosis, of course, was acute ETOH intoxication.
The family, upset by what? the expense? the exposure? the shock of learning their cosseted nestling had poor judgment on her own? insisted on having the house director fired. She should have "handled it herself" and let the young woman "sleep it off."
"Twenty-four: it's the new eighteen."
The family, upset by what? the expense? the exposure? the shock of learning their cosseted nestling had poor judgment on her own? insisted on having the house director fired. She should have "handled it herself" and let the young woman "sleep it off."
"Twenty-four: it's the new eighteen."
8
Geez. My first job before I went to college was dish-washer in a nursing home. I still remember the residents and filling up the big, industrial machine. After college, I got to use the skills i acquired in a summer typing class - one of the most useful I ever took. I worked as a secretary. Often throughout my life I've filled in gaps with temporary secretarial work. Nothing wrong with it - on the contrary. You work to earn a paycheck and take care of yourself and it's one way to build up some self-respect. I don't regret any of it.
3
Know what else is a "high stress environment? Your first job and making partner and dealing with clients and maintaining a relationship and raising kids and a million of other things that people achieve over their lifetimes (and which have drastically higher consequences than bombing a semester or two).
If you want to make excuses to yourself for drinking alcohol until the point of cerebral shutdown, by all means, knock yourself out. But please spare us all the self pity. In the real world (which is to say outside the phony little consequence-free safe-space that actual adults take the responsibility to create to protect you from yourselves), only a sliver of people make the decision to binge-drink themselves into oblivion. They're called alcoholics and we feel sorry them, which is to say not too far from how we feel about your conundrum.
For the love of all things holy, stop feeling sorry for yourself. No one in the history of the world has it as good as you do over these four years.
If you want to make excuses to yourself for drinking alcohol until the point of cerebral shutdown, by all means, knock yourself out. But please spare us all the self pity. In the real world (which is to say outside the phony little consequence-free safe-space that actual adults take the responsibility to create to protect you from yourselves), only a sliver of people make the decision to binge-drink themselves into oblivion. They're called alcoholics and we feel sorry them, which is to say not too far from how we feel about your conundrum.
For the love of all things holy, stop feeling sorry for yourself. No one in the history of the world has it as good as you do over these four years.
112
Maybe AA needs to set up on a bunch of campuses.
I'm glad I went to a large, anonymous college where there was no pressure other than my wanting to learn.
I'd feel sorry for the students described in this piece, except it's their CHOICE to behave this way. And don't give me the peer-pressure excuse, b/c I went to college & grad school and had been raised NOT to give in to peer-pressure (especially not for something as damaging as drinking, drugs, or sexual promiscuity). Did any of these kids get an education in ethics, morals or even genuine self-respect?
If what parents today are doing is pushing their offspring so hard to please (or be "perfect"), then they've done their children a massive disservice, and not just for the college years, but for the rest of their adult lives.
I can assure you that NOBODY'S "perfect," and the person sitting next to you in class may be getting an A+ but that doesn't mean you have to get an A+, and it also doesn't mean that if they get one, there's one less available for you. It's not a zero sum game.
Try being your own person. It will, as the saying goes, astonish your friends and confound your enemies.
I'm glad I went to a large, anonymous college where there was no pressure other than my wanting to learn.
I'd feel sorry for the students described in this piece, except it's their CHOICE to behave this way. And don't give me the peer-pressure excuse, b/c I went to college & grad school and had been raised NOT to give in to peer-pressure (especially not for something as damaging as drinking, drugs, or sexual promiscuity). Did any of these kids get an education in ethics, morals or even genuine self-respect?
If what parents today are doing is pushing their offspring so hard to please (or be "perfect"), then they've done their children a massive disservice, and not just for the college years, but for the rest of their adult lives.
I can assure you that NOBODY'S "perfect," and the person sitting next to you in class may be getting an A+ but that doesn't mean you have to get an A+, and it also doesn't mean that if they get one, there's one less available for you. It's not a zero sum game.
Try being your own person. It will, as the saying goes, astonish your friends and confound your enemies.
6
A young person shouldnt be so depressed,wait til you turn 30. I promise youll feel more at ease :D
1
"You assume that if you black out, someone will make sure you get back home." And of course when this doesn't happen the woman gets raped while unconscious, the school gets sued, and some horny young man sees his future ruined.
3
Millennials. The most pathetic generation. Ill prepared, used to being pampered and praised, "victims" of this and that, hyper sensitive to the slightest slight or hash word, lacking in discipline and grit.
3
For many years alcoholics and the professionals that treat the disease of alcoholism have tried to understand why people drink to excess. Studies in the thousands have tried to find the common characteristics of alcoholics. Some thought stress, personal, genetic or social factors were involved. After many years of painstaking study, researchers concluded the only common characteristic of alcoholics is that they drink too much. Alcoholics Anonymous cut to the chase by observing that people drink because the like the affect that alcohol produces and that spending time trying to figure out why people drink was a waste of time. Others have observed that young people who had marked personality changes when they consume alcohol, had blackouts, or had problems with the law, school or work, were likely to have a lifelong problem with alcohol. Normal drinkers do not have blackouts. If you have one, watch out, you are likely to have a lifelong drinking problem and you will do yourself a favor if you totally abstain from drinking. Blackouts indicate that you are not metabolizing alcohol normally, and should treat alcohol like someone allergic to peanuts treats peanut butter. Blackouts are an abnormal response to alcohol consumption.
13
Sadly this is nothing new! With freedom (going away to college) comes responsibility... stressful for most, fearful for others.
4
Legalize pot. Sorry folks, it's far less destructive.
9
This is not new. Those of us of a certain age are very glad there were no iPhones videoing us at college in the early sixties!
2
A blackout is different from being passed out. Blackout drinking involves drinking a lot of alcohol over a very short period of time. It shuts down the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for making long term memories. Being in a blackout does not mean you can't get in the drivers seat, or go behind a dumpster for sex with someone you don't know, or many other regrettable/dangerous behaviors in which you would not ordinarily engage. Being in a blackout means you can't remember what you did before you passed out.
Sarah Hepola's book "Blackout. Remembering the things I drank to forget." provides the necessarily frank account of how and what can happen. Information that was absent in the media coverage of the sexual assault at Stanford and the anonymous victim letter.
As a feminist I don't think drinking or drinking too much means a woman is "asking for it." But if you are blackout drinking you won't remember if you did or didn't "ask for it."
Being a feminist includes taking responsibility for yourself. Blackout drinking, drinking a lot a alcohol over a short period of time so that you will blackout, means you have intentionally relinquished your ability to do it.
Sarah Hepola's book "Blackout. Remembering the things I drank to forget." provides the necessarily frank account of how and what can happen. Information that was absent in the media coverage of the sexual assault at Stanford and the anonymous victim letter.
As a feminist I don't think drinking or drinking too much means a woman is "asking for it." But if you are blackout drinking you won't remember if you did or didn't "ask for it."
Being a feminist includes taking responsibility for yourself. Blackout drinking, drinking a lot a alcohol over a short period of time so that you will blackout, means you have intentionally relinquished your ability to do it.
101
Jesus. Attended college 1964-68 and the worst we did was smoke weak Mexican brick weed on the weekends.
3
But somehow if you tell women to not blackout drink, it's considered "victim-blaming." Women want to be able to drink like sailors on leave without any consequences because everyone around them is a good person. Doesn't work like that.
3
An interesting story from the. Washington Post where the female writer targets fraternities and demands their breakup for fostering a drink and rape culture. I don't post hyper links ever but it's an easy search. Put the two articles side by side and you see an interesting dynamic of campus life. I will say, however, that what comes out of both is that college students haven't really been prepared for college life, and colleges have largely abdicated what I recall from the 1980's would be considered emphasizing personal responsibility and respect. As more and more posters on "social media" attack other people, how can you say no when everyone else is telling you to say yes, to go along with the crowd, this is what you have to do to get ahead, etc, and, as the writer notes, you've been posted to a stranger's Facebook page with no recourse, because of course, all these social media types cry free speech and they aren't responsible.
1
You think college is stressful? Try balancing work, kids, marriage, large expenses and aging parents. Toughen up because it only gets tougher.
8
Drinking alcohol is better than shooting heroin.
When I attended college in the late 60s there was very little drinking. We smoked pot. Much healthier than alcohol.
6
Stop blaming it on lack of future jobs, student debt, stress of academics,,,, The reason is because you were all so coddled by your parents and teachers....Everyone was a winner and went home with a ribbon.
In the real world, there are winners and losers; better to learn it at an early age!
In the real world, there are winners and losers; better to learn it at an early age!
4
You're excusing drinking. You're justifying drinking based on some excuse. If your coping mechanism is alcohol overindulgence there is something much more problematic going on. We've come to think of kids drinking to oblivion as something normal. People are so obsessed about kids using drugs they forget how much alcohol can damage you and your brain.
5
There will always be really bad excuses to drink to excess.
"Im so stressed" "Work is so hard"
Life is hard, suck it up buttercup.
"Im so stressed" "Work is so hard"
Life is hard, suck it up buttercup.
6
I doubt that "stress" or "fear of a crumbling job market" have much to do with anything. Drinking in college for many is second only (after freshman year for those who remain) to going to class. I went to college during the Carter administration: rising oil prices (courtesy of our Arab "friends"), rising unemployment, double-digit inflation and interest rates. Stressful enough?
My classmates indulged in the Fri-Sun ritual of non-stop drinking and smoking marijuana. Those who survived the first year of such juvenile behavior came back as slightly more mature individuals. By graduation, most were well on the way to adulthood.
Enough excuses with why young people drink to excess. They choose to, that's why. Just like I (and plenty of others) chose not to. The author of this article chronicles his endless obsession with what everyone around him is doing. Some friendly advice: 2 years after college, most of your classmates will be long forgotten. So tend to your own business, chart your own future, and let others do what they may. You can't control them; don't let them control you.
For starters, avoid those who think that binge drinking is a solution to anything. This is how you'll respond to real stress in the real world, the first day on the job? You're in college, use your head! Binge watch old movies, train for a half marathon, volunteer in a soup kitchen and see what real stress looks like. And how good you really have it.
My classmates indulged in the Fri-Sun ritual of non-stop drinking and smoking marijuana. Those who survived the first year of such juvenile behavior came back as slightly more mature individuals. By graduation, most were well on the way to adulthood.
Enough excuses with why young people drink to excess. They choose to, that's why. Just like I (and plenty of others) chose not to. The author of this article chronicles his endless obsession with what everyone around him is doing. Some friendly advice: 2 years after college, most of your classmates will be long forgotten. So tend to your own business, chart your own future, and let others do what they may. You can't control them; don't let them control you.
For starters, avoid those who think that binge drinking is a solution to anything. This is how you'll respond to real stress in the real world, the first day on the job? You're in college, use your head! Binge watch old movies, train for a half marathon, volunteer in a soup kitchen and see what real stress looks like. And how good you really have it.
8
Just wait until you get into drugs.
You can waste an entire decade of your life that way.
But that's just life in Uhmurica. Have a horrible life, like 95% of the population? Drinking and drugs really come in handy.
You can waste an entire decade of your life that way.
But that's just life in Uhmurica. Have a horrible life, like 95% of the population? Drinking and drugs really come in handy.
2
Is this supposed to be a new issue? I remember blackout drinking, fueled by 150+ proof punch (medical alcohol and frozen, concentrated grape juice) from when I was in college over 40 years ago.
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
1
I know several people who are being driven to drink by this election, and they're not kids. They're older people--women--who are afraid of what Donald Trump will do to ruin this country if he's elected.
Let these kids add THAT to their list of stresses.
Let these kids add THAT to their list of stresses.
3
Sometimes getting totally hammered is fun. Sometimes you're going to blackout. It's a weird feeling the next day. I recommend learning to stop just short of passing out on the bathroom floor.
4
The really sad part of this article is the question of why: why do college students feel such pressure and despair? And that takes us back to our great American values - you are only a success if you have a too-big house, an expensive car, and a lots of disposable income for unnecessary crap. Yes, we need a higher minimum wage so that people can live - with dignity - if they choose not to go to college, as MANY should not. But how about the perverted notions of American success? When will people start questioning why they need so much?
5
This article is written by a current senior at UNC. Sorry to break it to you, but you experience with kids drinking in college is not new to this generation, as much as you like to think it is.
Stress? Everyone has stress. Competition? Every career has competition. Not everyone blacks out to deal with it.
College is the first time kids are away from parents and want to experiment with themselves - sometimes that take a little greasing of the wheels to be less awkward. Don't blame it on your inability to handle whatever once before you has.
Stress? Everyone has stress. Competition? Every career has competition. Not everyone blacks out to deal with it.
College is the first time kids are away from parents and want to experiment with themselves - sometimes that take a little greasing of the wheels to be less awkward. Don't blame it on your inability to handle whatever once before you has.
1
I didn't live on campus. I got my drinking and drugs over with in my junior year of high school (didn't enjoy it, just did it in a vain attempt to 'fit in'). I was in college to learn, and regarded it as a once-in-a-lifetime, you-will-never-pass-this-way-again opportunity. Oh, and although I inherited a small college fund from my grandmother, I paid for pretty much everything else myself, working summers and living oat home, on pennies.
So I'm gobsmacked by kids who would spend tens of thousands of dollars, and precious minutes of their fleeting youth, in a drunken stupour. And then scream 'victim' when they get date-raped while unconscious, and think 0% of the responsibility should rest on their bad choices. Never mind what I think of the 'progressives' who think we should all pay for free tuition to enable them to squander their youth and our dollars.
Lucinda Matlock, by Edgar Lee Masters:
'What is this I hear of sorrow and weariness,
Anger, discontent and drooping hopes?
Degenerate sons and daughters,
Life is too strong for you--
It takes life to love Life.'
Even a lesser poet may have something worthwhile to say.
So I'm gobsmacked by kids who would spend tens of thousands of dollars, and precious minutes of their fleeting youth, in a drunken stupour. And then scream 'victim' when they get date-raped while unconscious, and think 0% of the responsibility should rest on their bad choices. Never mind what I think of the 'progressives' who think we should all pay for free tuition to enable them to squander their youth and our dollars.
Lucinda Matlock, by Edgar Lee Masters:
'What is this I hear of sorrow and weariness,
Anger, discontent and drooping hopes?
Degenerate sons and daughters,
Life is too strong for you--
It takes life to love Life.'
Even a lesser poet may have something worthwhile to say.
3
What happened to the days of smoking weed and listening to rock music? All of this hardcore booze-chugging is going to get people killed. Spark up and kick back! Just make sure you've got adequate snacks on hand.
3
Kids need a fifth year of high school or mandatory gap year before going to college. They mature a lot between 18-19, this could allow them to develop a more serious approach, maybe even get work to pitch in on college costs. And there would be no taboo.
1
When I was a student (some 40 years ago) you had the heavy drinkers and you had the hard workers. The latter all got good grades, attended the classes, joined each other for challenging discussions and now all have good jobs. The heavy drinkers then, for whatever reason, kept on drinking, had shallow and boring interactions, poor grades, and have never made it in life. Students "of today" go ahead, take your pick.
5
If this is what students/youth think they need to do to deal with the world, we should not be surprised regarding the heroin epidemic amoung the young.
Sorry, but it's like we want to say "Grow up!"
Sorry, but it's like we want to say "Grow up!"
4
implausible shocking news. College students binge drinking?
Let me get this right. You have a few thousand 18 - 21 year olds in one place without their Parents for the first time in their lives and the result is to push the boundaries on socially acceptable behavior?
Say it ain't so.
Let me get this right. You have a few thousand 18 - 21 year olds in one place without their Parents for the first time in their lives and the result is to push the boundaries on socially acceptable behavior?
Say it ain't so.
4
Originally from the Buffalo area and no stranger to hard alcohol, I've had my share of nights I barely remember. I'm now the father of 2 young girls that will head off to college in roughly 10 years. I am preparing them now for this garbage. I have them watch a steady diet of COPS to warn them of what can happen to people who drink too much and read them stories such as the case of the Stanford swimmer who raped a girl who blacked out from alcohol.
I'm normally not a fan of a scared straight approach and I'm actively working to balance it so that it's a strategy that won't backfire, but this is too important and I feel they have to know the dangers well in advance in order to make wise choices in the future. In tandem, they are also being taught to stand up to their friends on things that go against their core beliefs. This is just as important.
I'm normally not a fan of a scared straight approach and I'm actively working to balance it so that it's a strategy that won't backfire, but this is too important and I feel they have to know the dangers well in advance in order to make wise choices in the future. In tandem, they are also being taught to stand up to their friends on things that go against their core beliefs. This is just as important.
4
I think I read the same article, in 1986
2
Competitive overachievers who have blacked out must wake up too realize who they are trying to overachieve; it's one of life's great pageants to find out who one is competing with, which can't be done when one's out of it.
1
I know that it may seem that you are unique in this practice, but actually it's been going on as long as there have been universities.
2
We really need to make cannabis fully legal in this country and allow access to college kids. These kids are drinking themselves to death almost every weekend and causing untold mayhem through fights, sexual assaults and alcohol poisonings. With cannabis, you get none of this. Truly cannabis is the safer choice....
6
The piece offers a good counter to the holier-than-thou conservative sermons (some found in the comments here) about the moral failings of the next generation that underlie bad behavior. The problem with that vapid "analysis" is that its timeless -- as old as Cicero in the first century BCE.
Perhaps, just perhaps, some of the problems facing our younger people are sparked by the enormous stress placed on them by an economy rigged by Republicans and "centrist" Democrats to serve the needs of the richest among us only.
For all those moralizers spouting "grow-up, life is stressful" platitudes at the likes of Ms. Carrick: did you leave college with few job prospects but $100,000 in debt to the banks? Did you enter a world where a house or apartment cost 10 times your annual salary, or more? Where the prospect of well-paying, regular employment was a mirage?
Sorry, drinking to blackout is not symptomatic of a moral failing in Ms. Carrick's generation but a political failing in ours.
Perhaps, just perhaps, some of the problems facing our younger people are sparked by the enormous stress placed on them by an economy rigged by Republicans and "centrist" Democrats to serve the needs of the richest among us only.
For all those moralizers spouting "grow-up, life is stressful" platitudes at the likes of Ms. Carrick: did you leave college with few job prospects but $100,000 in debt to the banks? Did you enter a world where a house or apartment cost 10 times your annual salary, or more? Where the prospect of well-paying, regular employment was a mirage?
Sorry, drinking to blackout is not symptomatic of a moral failing in Ms. Carrick's generation but a political failing in ours.
5
I had to stop reading.
I almost got a hangover reading this.
(((shakes head)))
I almost got a hangover reading this.
(((shakes head)))
3
Most people think a blackout is a matter of not remembering the events of the previous night's exploits.
Yes, that is a blackout. But imagine standing in front of 200 students in a lecture center, late afternoon, when you suddenly come out of your blackout. A blackout is when you are AWAKE and going about your normal day and then you suddenly "come to." It's very scary.
Yes, that is a blackout. But imagine standing in front of 200 students in a lecture center, late afternoon, when you suddenly come out of your blackout. A blackout is when you are AWAKE and going about your normal day and then you suddenly "come to." It's very scary.
2
College is a time where you have the freedom to push concern for your social standing down to the last priority. It is a time to turn inward and work on your knowledge and overall intellectual capacity. Is this not obvious?
It is very unlikely you will ever see those party animals again after graduation, if they even make it that far. So break off from the crowd, except for few like-minded friends, foster some self-reliance, and think long term.
If you feel stress, hit the gym.
It is very unlikely you will ever see those party animals again after graduation, if they even make it that far. So break off from the crowd, except for few like-minded friends, foster some self-reliance, and think long term.
If you feel stress, hit the gym.
53
Blackout drinking -- or as I liked to remember it: time travel. You drink so much in one place and time, that you are mystically transferred to another place and time nearly instantaneously. It's remarkable. And dangerous.
3
We had to study on weekends. If you have time for drinking, that is not very stressful.
8
"Competition, stress and fears about the job market have college students trying to forget by drowning themselves in vodka."
First, if you only desire is to make a lot of money and die rich (like Donald Trump), here's to you. Have another drink!
But second, boo hoo.
I spent my adolescence binge drinking to forget about the fact that I was probably going to be forced by my government to go to Vietnam and through away my life for nothing. Unlike Donald Trump, I'd have gotten no deferments, not even one, much less FOUR.
First, if you only desire is to make a lot of money and die rich (like Donald Trump), here's to you. Have another drink!
But second, boo hoo.
I spent my adolescence binge drinking to forget about the fact that I was probably going to be forced by my government to go to Vietnam and through away my life for nothing. Unlike Donald Trump, I'd have gotten no deferments, not even one, much less FOUR.
is it really accurate to say the job market is "crumbling"? Last time I checked the unemployment rate was pretty low.
4
If you drink to black-out it is because
a) you are an addict,
b) the money-grubbing alcohol lords encourage you to drink,
c) you have a hole in your life or
d) a, b and c are all true.
a) you are an addict,
b) the money-grubbing alcohol lords encourage you to drink,
c) you have a hole in your life or
d) a, b and c are all true.
4
Ah, today's youth: so much worse than ever before, as always.
Some, at least, have a keen eye, if not for numbers and evidence, at least for what will get them published. Soldier on! --- the next generation is sure to be a shocker.
Some, at least, have a keen eye, if not for numbers and evidence, at least for what will get them published. Soldier on! --- the next generation is sure to be a shocker.
1
Want to pad your resume? Why not develop fun activities on campus so you aren't consigned to Applebee's and the Bowling Alley? This is called an 'accomplishment' and takes things like Leadership, Creativity, and Motivation (which will interest employers, thus relieving another source of stress).
Presumably you have a student activities budget and a collection of highly intelligent, uber motivated bright lights. One of the benefits of a small school is this is done much more easily than at a campus of 42,000.
PS figure it out because life is competitive and stressful after college as well. Welcome to Capitalism.
Presumably you have a student activities budget and a collection of highly intelligent, uber motivated bright lights. One of the benefits of a small school is this is done much more easily than at a campus of 42,000.
PS figure it out because life is competitive and stressful after college as well. Welcome to Capitalism.
2
Really??? Life is stressful, people. Grow ups ( of all ages ) handle stress with sports, yoga, meditation, a walk in the park, self reflection you name it. Keep your body healthy, don't trash it! You only get one and you want it to last a long time. College is short, life is long.
3
Wonderful. Just wonderful. NOW, let's combine blackouts - or maybe just plain ol' binge drinking - with a pistol in every pocket on campus!
3
I think they call it enabling.
"And finally, they descended on the frat houses where trash cans filled with p.j., or party juice, also known as pink panty droppers, were at the ready."
All taking place while the so-called authorities at this institution had no idea that it was going on.
Pathetic.
"And finally, they descended on the frat houses where trash cans filled with p.j., or party juice, also known as pink panty droppers, were at the ready."
All taking place while the so-called authorities at this institution had no idea that it was going on.
Pathetic.
3
"But there’s something else in the mix, something that pushes them from casual drinking to binge drinking to blackout."
You said it in the second paragraph. "We were supposed to be going to a fraternity party that night,..."
That's frat culture.
You said it in the second paragraph. "We were supposed to be going to a fraternity party that night,..."
That's frat culture.
2
"Competition, stress and fears about the job market have college students trying to forget by drowning themselves in vodka. "
wait until they get out in the real world.
wait until they get out in the real world.
3
When I was in college, most people I knew, myself included, had part-time jobs in their non-school hours. So, we didn't have time to binge drink every weekend.
It sounds like some of these kids have too much timely their hands.
It sounds like some of these kids have too much timely their hands.
5
Well written and timely; thanks for this very personal essay. For more on the same topic, check out the recent article from The Atlantic on "How Helicopter Parents Cause Binge Drinking." We need to start much, much earlier to help young people deal more effectively with the stresses of life.
2
Sounds like the dorm Residence Assistants (RA's) aren't doing their job at this school.
5
If I had a daughter heading to college and wanted to caution her about the potentially ruinous mix of feminine vulnerability, naïveté, and alcohol, I would skip the zzzzzz inducing, mental tune out lecture, and ask her to read Tom Wolfe's "I am Charlotte Simmons".Wolfe shows that "truth" is often best expressed through "fiction".
5
So college students are drinking to passing out because college is stressful and the future (job search, etc.) is scary? Apparently it hasn't occurred to them college is a lot harder when you are hung over and people don't hire applicants who come to the interview with the shakes. As my mother use to say "don't you make your own life harder. There are so many other people that will do that for you"
11
Just another example of how to disconnect from one's life and reality. Personal responsibility is not in fashion and has not been for the past eight years.
1
Resumes in college??
Here's my way easy fool-proof way through young adult life.
1) Learn a foreign language
2) Live abroad
3) Come home
4) Move to the city and get a job.
Here's my way easy fool-proof way through young adult life.
1) Learn a foreign language
2) Live abroad
3) Come home
4) Move to the city and get a job.
3
Well we all were young, once. That's an observation and not remorse. Drinking oneself into oblivion is for the young, the desperate and the addicted. And, in the long run, it's not funny. Sooner, or later, time takes its toll. Lying passed out on the bathroom floor loses its cachet and the hangover is just not worth the price of that bottle of vodka. Ms. Carrick, I hope your blackout image has not been captured on too many cellphone cameras and you won't have to look at those images after you graduate. You won't find them quite as amusing then.
4
Why anyone would want to lose control, even among friends, is beyond me; esp. with alcohol. So many things can happen...I never "drank" in college or business school, I had one glas of beer or wine, that was it. When driving, not a drop. To this day, I'm the designated driver. In my job, I've had colleagues and clients drink to ecxcess and had to talk to them the next day with their behaviour from the night before in mind...
6
There's always an excuse to drink to black out.
Previous generations had WW2, Vietnam, Race riots, poverty, etc.
Do you really think this is new?
Previous generations had WW2, Vietnam, Race riots, poverty, etc.
Do you really think this is new?
4
As someone who has been in AA for 22 years there is a lot I could say to you. But I won't because you don't want to hear it. If and when you and your friends survive and are ready to enjoy life or deal with life's many stresses without alcohol, we will always be here to help.
12
I think there are too many young people going to college with no real reason to be there, other than rite of passage. Without a driving intellectual interest in what is being taught, without the desire to expand the mind and really learn something, kids get an additional four years to play and socialize with no real social controls in effect. Young folks without a future to work toward create their own special hell.
7
'Of course, this mentality backfires with issues such as sexual assault when people are held accountable for their actions.'
I think you meant to write, 'Of course, this mentality backfires with issues such as sexual assault when men and boys are held accountable for their actions'.
I think you meant to write, 'Of course, this mentality backfires with issues such as sexual assault when men and boys are held accountable for their actions'.
5
I'm not buying it. Students are under no more stress now than they ever were. The unemployment rate is low. Students in college actually put in fewer hours each week studying than they have ever done before in history--and yet they get higher grades than ever. They live in dorms that are like 5 star hotel rooms, compared to the conditions students have traditionally had to live in.
If today's American college students--who have everything better than anyone in human history has ever had anything--could just stop whining, and toughen up a bit, the world would be a much better place. If you think drinking on campus is a problem, don't drink: study instead.
If today's American college students--who have everything better than anyone in human history has ever had anything--could just stop whining, and toughen up a bit, the world would be a much better place. If you think drinking on campus is a problem, don't drink: study instead.
8
I have such h sympathy for these kids. Not for the heavy drinking, but for the atmosphere of gloom regarding career possibilities. We -us older folks- have created a world where there simply aren't enough job openings any more.
1
I appreciate the author's description of the behavior she observed. The notion of intentionally getting to "black out" drunk is shocking in its irresponsibility and recklessness. I think the motivation is more simple than stress because in what I've seen, horrifically irresponsible drinking behavior extends way beyond the group of students who are so success-focused that stress could be the cause. I think it is mainly old-fashioned immaturity and recklessness, with a misplaced sense of safety. Nothing bad can happen to me here. There is also an element of impulsiveness and lack of self control that many young adults suffer from and if placed in these situations, many will fail to abstain. The assertion that somehow, colleges where this happens are well-known and can be avoided...WRONG. My son attended a quality small liberal arts college where binge drinking was rampant, there was nothing else to do, and nobody in authority to offer any guidance nor show any leadership. Go ahead and blame bad parenting, but don't say it too loudly, your child's mistakes may go public one day too. The most difficult lesson to pass on to one's children is that bad things happen to good people all the time - one teenager can be engaging in the same behavior as others around him, nothing happens to anybody else, but this teen gets arrested or accused of misconduct; anything can happen when you cannot control your own behavior and in an instant, your life trajectory can change.
10
Wonder if Kathie Lee and Hoda still imbibe every morning on NBC's Today Show. Selfish, irresponsibly ignorant role models and time to tweet the network your local alcohol related news stories and those traffic fatalities ain't pretty. Then there are the survivors whose catastrophic injuries require long term care for immeasurable deficits to quality of life. As heartbroken parents wonder what happened along the way to their sweet cherished babes-in-arms, it really does takes a village to give a damn.
2
I just wish we could get pieces in the NYT that quit treating Millennials as the genesis of every single cultural trend. They did not invent black out drinking, and by the way, they didn't invent "hooking up," nor were they they the first generation to face "unprecedented" changes in the US economy and the US workforce.
13
Throughout history, people young and old have drank to blackout. This is nothing new.
You don't have to go to college to witness this behavior. It's also nothing unique to American College students.
It seems like as a society we've become so prudish. Students today are arguably less drunk, less extreme, and have more direction than they have ever had.
While the behavior can be hard to swallow, it's not going away.
You don't have to go to college to witness this behavior. It's also nothing unique to American College students.
It seems like as a society we've become so prudish. Students today are arguably less drunk, less extreme, and have more direction than they have ever had.
While the behavior can be hard to swallow, it's not going away.
Perfect description of Hillsdale College in the 1980's. Fraternities had prohibition parties that were to close to 1920's reality.
1
All this has nothing to do with college stress and competition. Non-college kids drink themselves to oblivion too. The reason kids do it because they're young and foolish and can get away with it. The role of adults is to supervise them better, but too many adults have abdicated that responsibility. In the example given by this article, where are the resident dorm counselors or fraternity "house mothers"? Oh, they don't exist any more? Why not?
7
If this essay is suggesting that drinking to blackout is something new then Ms. Carrick is in error. I witnessed this same thing to exactly the same degree she describes in my undergraduate experience in the '60's. In my view it has nothing to do with stress, but rather a lot to do with boredom and the stupidity of youth. Most survive it. Some don't.
5
Recently I toured the author's home campus. The tour guide, a UNC senior from ultra competitive East Chapel HS, remarked that she felt less competitive pressure at UNC than at her high school, where she felt one's success was often begrudged by one's peers. She felt a much more cooperative spirit among her college friends and, though she wanted to "get away from home" she ended up wanting to stay at a large state university, UNC.
1
there seems to be an unprecedented need for people to remove themselves from reality...temporary death. those who drink feel they are controlling their "death" while those who give themselves over to the drug epidemic have less control and face real death everyday.
Blacking out, browning out, checking out--not remembering what you did and waking up in a jail cell are the harsh realities and consequences of alcohol and drug abuse, whether you're a college student or an irresponsible adult.
And yes, a huge hangover is the least of it. Not remembering a sexual assault, a vehicular manslaughter, a murder, or domestic abuse are all part and parcel of the next morning remorse.
Having been a teacher in a school program for incarcerated youth, I had an honors student headed to an Ivy League school who picked up a baseball bat at a party in a blackout and his next four years are in an upstate prison.
Drug and alcohol education shouldn't come after the fact and shouldn't be assigned to a chapter in a Health textbook. Keep it real and upfront in the minds of young people on college campuses. Yes, they'll always party but with greater awareness of the consequences.
And yes, a huge hangover is the least of it. Not remembering a sexual assault, a vehicular manslaughter, a murder, or domestic abuse are all part and parcel of the next morning remorse.
Having been a teacher in a school program for incarcerated youth, I had an honors student headed to an Ivy League school who picked up a baseball bat at a party in a blackout and his next four years are in an upstate prison.
Drug and alcohol education shouldn't come after the fact and shouldn't be assigned to a chapter in a Health textbook. Keep it real and upfront in the minds of young people on college campuses. Yes, they'll always party but with greater awareness of the consequences.
6
They do it because everyone else is. They're basically still adolescents, and adolescents conform to their peer group's norms. Most of them will stop when they leave the campus and enter a wider circle of adult relationships.
3
Human beings have been finding ways to get "high" for thousands of years. I think every person has the ability to decide whether they want to drink to excess, drink responsibly or not drink at all. The same applies to marijuana. There are other drugs (heroin, cocaine, meth, pain killers, etc.) that are to be avoided unless you want to be in drug addiction hell.
In life, it all comes down to choice. These young people are learning that at an early age but when they go out into the world of work, they also are going to have make choices that are more significant to their lives and futures.
I hope that they make the right choices and I wish them all well.
In life, it all comes down to choice. These young people are learning that at an early age but when they go out into the world of work, they also are going to have make choices that are more significant to their lives and futures.
I hope that they make the right choices and I wish them all well.
I'm interested in this author's experience and point of view re: college drinking/partying. It made me reflect on the binge drinking I did in university (class of 2003). Here's my take: I and virtually everyone else I knew at school drank heavily multiple times a week. In general, we did it because it was fun. It was a way to blow off steam, to socialize. It lead to hilarious adventures with new friends, that form some of our fondest memories of uni life (puritans, go ahead and clutch your pearls). Are there dangerous outcomes of heavy drinking? For sure. I did not drink and drive, i did not generally drink to blackout- what's the fun of a party if you're unconscious?, I did not go home with people after a big night (hookup culture hadn't permeated campus, luckily). I did not drink to dull bad feelings or escape my life. I drank because I had the freedom, the resources and the time to have that kind of fun. And it was, naysayers. It was super fun. Then you graduate, you start working, mornings come early and your body really lets you have it if you have more than 2 glasses of wine. Life rebalances in a way that does not permit that kind of partying. And you say to yourself, good- been there, done that, it was fine for then but not for now. I don't doubt other people's ability to enjoy/excel at college without drinking. Good for them, totally their prerogative. But my experience tells me that not everyone who drinks in college is a stressed out alcoholic in training.
7
This was the culture when I attended a small, liberal arts college in the 80s as well. But we did not blame stress - we just wanted to have fun.
These kids blaming stress are in for a rude awakening when they hit "real life."
These kids blaming stress are in for a rude awakening when they hit "real life."
11
This is not the country it once was. There was a time when the USA did bold things for the betterment of fellow Americans. Back then companies were not setting up operations in cheap labor havens and avoiding taxation. Companies weren't "people" and unlimited funds were not pouring into elections like they do now. New media wasn't biased like now, and presidential candidates were far more presidential than the choices we have today. Health insurance wasn't the racket it is now, too.
1
Almost 40 years ago, I graduated from college. Yes, there was a lot of drinking and some girls in the dorm, especially freshman year, got trashed -- not necessarily black out drunk. But it was frowned upon by peers, not as a one time event, but for those who did it regularly. As I observed my own children's college experiences, I saw that drinking shots had become popular. I can't see any reason for that except to get wasted. But let me ask, what about alcohol poisoning? It happens and can be fatal. Anyone worried?
5
Blackouts can lead to death for these young people. I wonder what the academic leaders and the small town communities are doing about this problem. Most colleges seem to just look the other way instead of finding solutions. At least in Boulder, many students use marijuana for stress relief. It is not the best option but much less dangerous than alcohol poisoning.
5
But, in the end it's about the piece of "paper", which is an entrée, hopefully, to a job that provides financial and personal satisfaction. Anything that can detract from that goal needs to be scrutinized.
While waiting for a parent / teacher conference with my middle school son, I remarked: "All school is about is acquiring a skill everyone has need off, but few have. That is why there are millions that can work at McD's / Seven/11, and receive low wages. And right now you can not even get a work permit to even do that because you are too young." In the end, thru high school, no smoke, no dope, no alcohol. He is now a diplomat with the US State Department
While waiting for a parent / teacher conference with my middle school son, I remarked: "All school is about is acquiring a skill everyone has need off, but few have. That is why there are millions that can work at McD's / Seven/11, and receive low wages. And right now you can not even get a work permit to even do that because you are too young." In the end, thru high school, no smoke, no dope, no alcohol. He is now a diplomat with the US State Department
1
Ethanol when distilled a little more such that it is more dangerous for humans to consume than drinkable ethanol is useful as fuel for an engine. If two sober lumberjacks compete at cutting down trees, one with a chainsaw and one with an axe, the chainsaw will win by a margin of at least 10 times. If both lumber jacks consume ethanol, not much will get done, and more than tree limbs could be felled. The point here is that it is not ethical to use useful ethanol for human consumption when it could be refined for useful work. It is an ethical arguement against consumption of alcohol.
But maybe ethics is still considered a 'bird' course in college along with environmental science. Bottoms up.
But maybe ethics is still considered a 'bird' course in college along with environmental science. Bottoms up.
Blaming stress and hyper-competitveness for drinking until you have poisoned the oxygen out of your brain, is feeble.
People drink until they pass out because their peers make it socially acceptable to do so.
I get the idea that there is not much to do to kick back, especially in very small colleges in very small towns. But the alcohol culture exists in colleges in cities and in colleges that have plenty of recreational facilities, and colleges with excellent sports teams to cheer for.
Frequent binge drinking is more than a stress reliever, more than boredom. It is alcoholism. Peers, culture, stress may make it easier, but if you cannot get through your down time without being unconscious, you have a serious problem that goes way beyond handling stress poorly. Don't blame it on the school or on the competition. People have to admit to themselves that they need help before they can get it.
People drink until they pass out because their peers make it socially acceptable to do so.
I get the idea that there is not much to do to kick back, especially in very small colleges in very small towns. But the alcohol culture exists in colleges in cities and in colleges that have plenty of recreational facilities, and colleges with excellent sports teams to cheer for.
Frequent binge drinking is more than a stress reliever, more than boredom. It is alcoholism. Peers, culture, stress may make it easier, but if you cannot get through your down time without being unconscious, you have a serious problem that goes way beyond handling stress poorly. Don't blame it on the school or on the competition. People have to admit to themselves that they need help before they can get it.
2
A well written article, Ashton. For once the words alcoholic drinking wasn't used. College certainly is the safest way for a young adult to prepare for the real world and, at the same time, enjoy being free from their parents clutches while learning and accepting responsibility for their own actions.
Yet marijuana stays illegal.
I hate alcohol. I hate being drunk, hate the taste, hate how drunks act. Yet it's the only "drug" we have to relieve stress. The sad thing is drinking to get drunk oozes out beyond the college years into professional settings. It's how adults bond. Go to the brewery or sit and complain with moms while drinking "mommy juice" on the playground.
Meanwhile, pot is illegal.... a drug that at worst gives a person the munchies and makes them sleepy.
I hate alcohol. I hate being drunk, hate the taste, hate how drunks act. Yet it's the only "drug" we have to relieve stress. The sad thing is drinking to get drunk oozes out beyond the college years into professional settings. It's how adults bond. Go to the brewery or sit and complain with moms while drinking "mommy juice" on the playground.
Meanwhile, pot is illegal.... a drug that at worst gives a person the munchies and makes them sleepy.
5
99.99% of sociopathic behavior (binge drinking, vandalism, rapes etc.) on college campuses could be eliminated by banning fraternities and sororities. That's where all the trouble comes from. Period.
5
This idiocy knows no bounds and it will result in diminished performance, alcoholism is some and severe gastric events, or worse, for others. The key to stopping this is to show that at the age of 18-21, youngsters feel at the top of their physical strength and have no fear of excessive alcohol or other intoxicants, but must resist the culture of stupidity around the drug of grain alcohol.
2
Back in the olden days of the 90's after classes and study I went to work. There was neither time nor money for party, but plenty of anxiety about whether or not there would be a decent job after graduation, grades, and affording the next semester, among many other fears. I felt left out of the full college experience at the time, but this column reveals it was the right path after all. Thank you!
2
Oh please....give me a break. This is exactly the age when people, college or not, drink the most and drink to excess. Blaming the "pressure" of college is absurd. The college life-style has a lot less pressure than the alternative working life of raising with a child or two as a single parent with a low income. I know that most campuses are doing everything they can to try and address this, but it seems there is a lot more going on here and it's far more complicates than just a campus culture issue. When is life NOT stressful?
4
To those who, like the writer and several of the commenters, think that students do this stuff because they are stressed or in despair: think again! They are adolescents doing it because it impresses their friends, and because everyone else is doing it. The "stress"and "despair" excuses were around when I was in college a very long time ago, used to justify abuse of a variety of substances. Truth is, college life isn't all that stressful, or it least it doesn't need to be. Anyway, stress is relieved by just a few drinks. I am the father of a high achiever, a student at one of those supposedly deeply stressful colleges, extremely ambitious, with a great sense of fun. He saw people doing stuff like that, and he just thought they were idiots. He always stops after a few drinks. Maybe that's because I prepared him with a sense of self that allows him to resist the social pressure. Maybe he was just born that way. But, now as way back when, it isn't the pressure and it isn't everyone doing it: just the same old pack of fools.
3
I read this and thought "Very clever-we'll eliminate any accusation of sexism and female irresponsibility
" . . . this mentality backfires with issues such as sexual assault when people are held ."
the only "people held" whose lives are destroyed by law, are male. Even if they remember no more and maybe less than the girls,(not women-women are too smart for this).
near or in College and when I was a teenager-I NEVER saw the ladies do this. It would have been the equivalent of going down to the corner of Broadway, hiking their skirt and asking passing boys if they wanted free sex!!!
There were parties as a teen and 12 year old where moms and dads ensured no drinking or hanky/panky-it happened anyway but, by college, those who went knew there were rules of behavior if you wanted to meet decent people. I was something of a weirdo-geek-but still never saw this. Men and guys may have occasionally drunk to numbness, when no females students were around. But it was considered, until the 1980's-Reagan's years, naturally-to be the most un-cool, dumb, asinine behavior imaginable. In the 60's, hard liquor had passed most colleges,because of age limits but also-because most kids wanted to smoke pot or, acid- activities rare-and done in secrecy and usually at night . The bacchanal as practiced now was unknown through the the 40,s to the 60's. Such behavior exemplifies a lack of parental explanation and teaching about social behavior and graces. Kids grow UP-not down.
" . . . this mentality backfires with issues such as sexual assault when people are held ."
the only "people held" whose lives are destroyed by law, are male. Even if they remember no more and maybe less than the girls,(not women-women are too smart for this).
near or in College and when I was a teenager-I NEVER saw the ladies do this. It would have been the equivalent of going down to the corner of Broadway, hiking their skirt and asking passing boys if they wanted free sex!!!
There were parties as a teen and 12 year old where moms and dads ensured no drinking or hanky/panky-it happened anyway but, by college, those who went knew there were rules of behavior if you wanted to meet decent people. I was something of a weirdo-geek-but still never saw this. Men and guys may have occasionally drunk to numbness, when no females students were around. But it was considered, until the 1980's-Reagan's years, naturally-to be the most un-cool, dumb, asinine behavior imaginable. In the 60's, hard liquor had passed most colleges,because of age limits but also-because most kids wanted to smoke pot or, acid- activities rare-and done in secrecy and usually at night . The bacchanal as practiced now was unknown through the the 40,s to the 60's. Such behavior exemplifies a lack of parental explanation and teaching about social behavior and graces. Kids grow UP-not down.
2
Sorry - this is stupid behavior.
Learning to 'cope' w/ pressure & disappointment by 'black out' drinking is learning a template for 'coping' that prevents students from learning psychologically healthy ways of coping & tolerating pressure. In other words, maturing psychologically.
Bad or intolerable feelings don't go away once people graduate & have grown up pressures like working for a living, marriage & parenting. People who learned to use alcohol as an 'avoidance mechanism' against discomfort at an young age often continue heavy drinking as adults - when things get to be 'too much.'
Better to learn to tolerate psychological discomfort now. It's a necessary skill to get through the rest of your life.
People I know who are adult alcoholics - some of them life-long alcoholics - have little to show for their drinking & most have employment problems, money problems, divorces, treating their children badly, serious health problems from alcoholism & even disability. All began heavy drinking in high school or college.
Students who believe this is okay or manageable behavior are kidding themselves. Early signs of alcoholism include drinking to blunt psychological discomfort and repeated heavy drinking to losing consciousness as a way of escaping pressure.
If you think none of the people you know in college who are drinking like this are alcoholics, you may be right. But some of them are going to be.
What they're doing now is practicing being alcoholics.
Learning to 'cope' w/ pressure & disappointment by 'black out' drinking is learning a template for 'coping' that prevents students from learning psychologically healthy ways of coping & tolerating pressure. In other words, maturing psychologically.
Bad or intolerable feelings don't go away once people graduate & have grown up pressures like working for a living, marriage & parenting. People who learned to use alcohol as an 'avoidance mechanism' against discomfort at an young age often continue heavy drinking as adults - when things get to be 'too much.'
Better to learn to tolerate psychological discomfort now. It's a necessary skill to get through the rest of your life.
People I know who are adult alcoholics - some of them life-long alcoholics - have little to show for their drinking & most have employment problems, money problems, divorces, treating their children badly, serious health problems from alcoholism & even disability. All began heavy drinking in high school or college.
Students who believe this is okay or manageable behavior are kidding themselves. Early signs of alcoholism include drinking to blunt psychological discomfort and repeated heavy drinking to losing consciousness as a way of escaping pressure.
If you think none of the people you know in college who are drinking like this are alcoholics, you may be right. But some of them are going to be.
What they're doing now is practicing being alcoholics.
9
In the 1960s, we had a chance to replace alcohol, an intoxicant that kills 100,000 people a year (according to Surgeon General Everett Koop), with marijuana, one of the safest intoxicating drugs known.
3
How sad. My first thoughts were that people who have constitutions that tend toward the "obliterati," which is what I call it, won't realize that their bodies can't tolerate much alcohol and they should not drink. Even if you don't pass out, if you have memory blackouts when drinking, you shouldn't drink, for your own safety and for the safety of others. A capacity for alcohol isn't a mark of character, it's a sign that your liver is being pickled.
In addition, drunk and unconscious women are especially are vulnerable to assault. I hope they are all using reliable continuous birth control methods like the pill or IUDs, and consider taking PrEP as well. It's bad enough leaving college with insurmountable debt without adding unplanned pregnancy or HIV infection to the burden.
In addition, drunk and unconscious women are especially are vulnerable to assault. I hope they are all using reliable continuous birth control methods like the pill or IUDs, and consider taking PrEP as well. It's bad enough leaving college with insurmountable debt without adding unplanned pregnancy or HIV infection to the burden.
2
Stress is operating a Humvee in a battle zone, giving a closing argument in a jury trial, operating on a person with a serious medical problem, navigating a divorce, just to name a few real stressors. Binge drinking should not be blamed on the various so-called stresses of college. Parents and college administrators need to send a powerful message that binge drinking is dangerous, foolish, often illegal, often times foisted on women in sexist contexts, and downright stupid for the sons and daughters of good families who should know better. My father always urged me to get A's and win in all competitions. He also taught me to treat women with respect and to avoid binge drinking and binge drinkers like the plague. Binge drinking / binge drinkers are just another obstacle to avoid on your way to success. Don't be stupid,
9
The terrible thing is how much money students today are spending to get a college education, many accumulating significant debt. There isn't any way to get the full value of an expensive education if the weekend (if not several week nights as well) is basically off the table in terms of getting any work done due to partying. The whole exercise basically becomes a waste of money, especially sad when I think of kids who would jump at the chance to go to college but simply can't afford it.
1
Well lets take a look at the general American culture. Where sports events are soaked with alcohol. Where far too many "fans" start drinking well before the game - beers in paper-bags on the LIRR/MetroNorth - many more tailgate themselves into oblivion, drink more inside, then either pass out (best case if you sit near them) throw-up, and more often then not harass the people sitting around them. Especially women and children. And little is ever done to stop these miscreants. And where do the players go post-game to relieve their stress? Nightclubs, etc, where drinks are often on the house, or a sports-agents expense account, pulling in the groupies, and hangers-on.
Watch TV and every possible "social event" is sold (by beautiful actors) with alcohol as the means to make the gathering stupendous, marvelous, tremendous. (Its like Trump writes the copy.) "Going to the beach, bring along alcohol's latest best party buddy." "Want to be unique, drink our unique drink! Want to be cool, dont drink that passe stuff, drink our hipster cool concoction!"
Watch any "serious" TV drama, and whats being offered when a co-character is having a bad day at the office? Alcohol. Whats being offered to loosen things up before a crucial meeting? Alcohol.
Americans have been equating drinking a lot of alcohol with having fun, or relieving stress for so long its buried in deeper then any tick. Its so ingrained in the culture I doubt any finger-waving, or tsk-tsking is going to fix it.
Watch TV and every possible "social event" is sold (by beautiful actors) with alcohol as the means to make the gathering stupendous, marvelous, tremendous. (Its like Trump writes the copy.) "Going to the beach, bring along alcohol's latest best party buddy." "Want to be unique, drink our unique drink! Want to be cool, dont drink that passe stuff, drink our hipster cool concoction!"
Watch any "serious" TV drama, and whats being offered when a co-character is having a bad day at the office? Alcohol. Whats being offered to loosen things up before a crucial meeting? Alcohol.
Americans have been equating drinking a lot of alcohol with having fun, or relieving stress for so long its buried in deeper then any tick. Its so ingrained in the culture I doubt any finger-waving, or tsk-tsking is going to fix it.
2
The sober students who are working hard and learning diligently will more than likely be more successful in school and in their chosen opportunities than their hard-drinking classmates. They will have less brain damage and fewer health problems.
As their cohort ages, I surmise the students who played "blackout" won't last as long as their sober classmates. The sober classmates will live longer fuller lives and receive retirement benefits such as social security and annuities for a much longer time.
Students can drink to "black out" without going to college. Let's admit people who want to go college to learn and grow, and let the drinkers go to the bars for their education.
As their cohort ages, I surmise the students who played "blackout" won't last as long as their sober classmates. The sober classmates will live longer fuller lives and receive retirement benefits such as social security and annuities for a much longer time.
Students can drink to "black out" without going to college. Let's admit people who want to go college to learn and grow, and let the drinkers go to the bars for their education.
2
When I was in college, we did plenty of drinking. It was about letting off steam in a pressure cooker situation. Sophomore year, though, I started taking a yoga class. It taught me to listen carefully to my body. I stopped drinking heavily. Yoga is about linking the mind to the body, so that you can live wholly.
Classmates who had the weakest relationships to their bodies and feelings were the ones who went on to become alcoholics. They were the ones who ignored every sign of physical or mental discomfort, who paid no attention to the body's plea for other activities like gentle exercise and rest.
Blackout drinking exists because our culture condones it. Alcohol damps inhibitions, promotes violent behavior. It fuels date rape, fatal accidents, fighting, poor mental and physical health.
Imagine if it were culturally acceptable for kids to throw yoga parties, where people could get together in groups and enjoy peacefully exercising together - blowing off steam, getting rid of the week's tensions, relaxing into your body, and just feeling good - without all of the vomiting and memory loss! We would have to let go of our cultural prejudices, though, and that's the hardest thing to do.
30 years down the line I've seen plenty of guys raised in the macho American sports-and-beer tradition slink sheepishly into a yoga class when their organs and muscles are finally quitting on them after decades of abuse. Our culture shouldn't shame them for taking care of themselves at last.
Classmates who had the weakest relationships to their bodies and feelings were the ones who went on to become alcoholics. They were the ones who ignored every sign of physical or mental discomfort, who paid no attention to the body's plea for other activities like gentle exercise and rest.
Blackout drinking exists because our culture condones it. Alcohol damps inhibitions, promotes violent behavior. It fuels date rape, fatal accidents, fighting, poor mental and physical health.
Imagine if it were culturally acceptable for kids to throw yoga parties, where people could get together in groups and enjoy peacefully exercising together - blowing off steam, getting rid of the week's tensions, relaxing into your body, and just feeling good - without all of the vomiting and memory loss! We would have to let go of our cultural prejudices, though, and that's the hardest thing to do.
30 years down the line I've seen plenty of guys raised in the macho American sports-and-beer tradition slink sheepishly into a yoga class when their organs and muscles are finally quitting on them after decades of abuse. Our culture shouldn't shame them for taking care of themselves at last.
6
Back in the 70s, when I was in college, people drank and took drugs, but it was in the context of socializing, relaxing, and having a good time. A blackout was a byproduct of that. When my children attended college, I was surprised to hear them say that for a great many, the blackout is the point.
I see many parents who share too frequent and too joyful reminiscences of their own partying in college with almost never a tinge of regret or realization of what could have happened. I encounter it often. They send their kids off with expectations they will do the same and allow Mom & Dad to join them. My friends and I tried to hide any depraved behavior from our parents; now, parents accompany their youngsters on the bar crawl.
The family that gets drunk together, stays together apparently.
I see many parents who share too frequent and too joyful reminiscences of their own partying in college with almost never a tinge of regret or realization of what could have happened. I encounter it often. They send their kids off with expectations they will do the same and allow Mom & Dad to join them. My friends and I tried to hide any depraved behavior from our parents; now, parents accompany their youngsters on the bar crawl.
The family that gets drunk together, stays together apparently.
1
I attended a small rural college in the early 1980's where blacking out was common and something of a badge of honor. It starts in high school and then intensifies in college where it's expected and encouraged. Our group of friends paid too high a price from the drunk-driving death of one of our beloved friends. I think creating and encouraging the use of alternative, healthier lifestyles on campus might help. Students should be encouraged to do this from faculty and mentors. While not everyone will buy in, perhaps some will and it will make a difference in their lives.
1
I look at frat parties and such as part of the weeding out process. Similar to grading on curve, those students who don't impose self-discipline to achieve their 'scholarly' goals will fall by the wayside if totally self-indulgent. Whether a rites of passage or a weeding out, there will be those who do not recover from the effects of an overdose of alcohol.
What I find different today from years past is the ongoing fixation with opioids and heroin. I get that folks living in rural areas have less job opportunities but that doesn't necessarily translate into 'ok, let's go do some highly addictive drugs'. There have always been stupid drugs, whether in the '60's or years prior, it just seems like there's a lot more stupid people taking stupid drugs now. I find it an utter surrender of will up front, before the addiction sets in.
What I find different today from years past is the ongoing fixation with opioids and heroin. I get that folks living in rural areas have less job opportunities but that doesn't necessarily translate into 'ok, let's go do some highly addictive drugs'. There have always been stupid drugs, whether in the '60's or years prior, it just seems like there's a lot more stupid people taking stupid drugs now. I find it an utter surrender of will up front, before the addiction sets in.
I am sure stress and high pressure leads some people to drink until they black out, but I'm equally sure that people who aren't stressed about school at all black out equally as much.
The issue with alcohol in America is that it's forbidden fruit to teens and many college students. We have young people manufacturing, buying, and selling fake IDs – a pretty serious crime – and that's treated as normal and even necessary by most of my friends. We have young people drinking themselves sick for no good reason. I have friends who really are high-functioning alcoholics but would never admit to themselves that the fact that they can't go a day without a drink is a problem, because it's either ignored or cheered and thought to be funny.
In European cultures where wine is as common as water, kids definitely drink but they don't drink to the extent and obsession that has become common in the U.S. I do think the drinking age has a lot to do with this – underage drinking has been driven underground to bingey parties from frats to private homes.
This is a well-written piece but I don't think we can blame our unhealthy drinking culture entirely on the job economy and pressure from our parents. I think we need to look at why students in other countries don't have this issue and see what we can do to emulate them.
The issue with alcohol in America is that it's forbidden fruit to teens and many college students. We have young people manufacturing, buying, and selling fake IDs – a pretty serious crime – and that's treated as normal and even necessary by most of my friends. We have young people drinking themselves sick for no good reason. I have friends who really are high-functioning alcoholics but would never admit to themselves that the fact that they can't go a day without a drink is a problem, because it's either ignored or cheered and thought to be funny.
In European cultures where wine is as common as water, kids definitely drink but they don't drink to the extent and obsession that has become common in the U.S. I do think the drinking age has a lot to do with this – underage drinking has been driven underground to bingey parties from frats to private homes.
This is a well-written piece but I don't think we can blame our unhealthy drinking culture entirely on the job economy and pressure from our parents. I think we need to look at why students in other countries don't have this issue and see what we can do to emulate them.
5
I commend the writer to have avoided the road down, and the peer pressure that is often hard to resist.
however my observation from afar (in age) would suggest that stress may certainly be part of it. but a lot starts in high school where there are few places (due to liquor, drinking age and cost) where under 21 year olds to go, congregate and have good times. and protective parents think that having weekend gatherings at home is safe. but there is little to do weekend after weekend there too, other than escape with drink or drugs.
so the alcohol addiction and abuse is well established by college.
and I see it continue nearly every night of the week and especially on weekends at all the bars. sports and otherwise, here in Manhattan by places that have an average age range of late 20s to early 30s.
however my observation from afar (in age) would suggest that stress may certainly be part of it. but a lot starts in high school where there are few places (due to liquor, drinking age and cost) where under 21 year olds to go, congregate and have good times. and protective parents think that having weekend gatherings at home is safe. but there is little to do weekend after weekend there too, other than escape with drink or drugs.
so the alcohol addiction and abuse is well established by college.
and I see it continue nearly every night of the week and especially on weekends at all the bars. sports and otherwise, here in Manhattan by places that have an average age range of late 20s to early 30s.
While I understand the impulse to say that the sky is falling; I think it is important to put this article in context. First of all; most students do not actually "blackout" and use that as a synonym for getting drunk. Second of all; every generation and age has had its members who indulge in alcohol abuse, and things have turned out just fine. And third, as far as substance abuse problems go, there are much more at-risk groups than students at elite, competitive colleges. Enough with the hand-wringing; let the kids have fun.
I graduated in 1976 from an elite college on the west coast that admitted the top 5% of high school seniors from all around the world. The pressures then had to do with being part of the "baby boomers", which made everything much more competative. Plenty of drinking and marijuana was endulged in, although no one blamed it on "stress".
Partying has been a part of the social scene in colleges across the country for decades. This is what happens when you get a bunch of 18 - 22 year olds together, and place them in a "secure" environment away from adult supervision.
Partying has been a part of the social scene in colleges across the country for decades. This is what happens when you get a bunch of 18 - 22 year olds together, and place them in a "secure" environment away from adult supervision.
1
Drinking in excess at college is not new. Decades ago, I remember going to parties and many drank to the point of blackout. But most of us didn't see it as signs of stress. Nor was it always. Mostly it was the freedom away from home, the freedom to drink as we pleased, and the knowledge we were not alone in partying till we ended up passed out. Many of us, though, after seeing poor grades or just hating hangovers, stopped the destructive behavior.
3
This is far more complex than chalking it up to the pressures of university. That is also way too easy of an explanation. I appreciate that the author has brought attention to this important issue. However, it does a poor job of explaining the dangers of blackouts, their relationship to alcoholism, and explicating the culture that is at root here. I went to Penn State as an undergrad and this blackout culture was developing but was not at this level. I had several blackouts there and it was terrifying. I became depressed and anxious not because of the stress of the work but at least in part because of the drinking and the blackouts. During blackouts, our brain partly shuts down to protect itself from the dangerously high levels of alcohol. There are so many negative consequences from this level of excess but in normalizing it, we've somehow swept all of these negative consequences under the rug. And it's a vicious cycle. What's the best way to forget about the anxiety about you did/could have done during your last blackout...yeah, have another.
4
College students who participate in such brain cell killing activities reflect a lack of demand being placed on their time, not a need to alleviate stress. Either they're not taking enough classes; or they're not doing the expected work outside of class (a minimum of three hours of studying outside of class time is expected for every one hour in class); or they should be spending that "free time" working for pay in order to reduce their reliance on students loans.
College should not be viewed as some sort of extended party time; it's an opportunity to actually learn, and "learn" is a verb and requires actual work. Those who view their out-of-class time as "free time" for fun do not belong in college and should postpone their college enrollments until they grow up.
Alcohol does not "relieve" stress; alcohol increases stress by making success much more difficult, as well as directly leading to injuries, reduced mental capacity, criminal assaults, drunk driving, addiction, and deaths. Anyone who wants to see just how idiotically drunk people behave only needs to attend one of these soirées while remaining sober: fun? funny? I think not.
Alcohol is an escape from life via self-poisoning, nothing more. College should be a celebration of life, intellectual and creative. To approach it as a time to deaden one's brain is beyond frivolous, and suggests a great reduction in the intellectual challenges that would gain one an actual education for all that time and money invested.
College should not be viewed as some sort of extended party time; it's an opportunity to actually learn, and "learn" is a verb and requires actual work. Those who view their out-of-class time as "free time" for fun do not belong in college and should postpone their college enrollments until they grow up.
Alcohol does not "relieve" stress; alcohol increases stress by making success much more difficult, as well as directly leading to injuries, reduced mental capacity, criminal assaults, drunk driving, addiction, and deaths. Anyone who wants to see just how idiotically drunk people behave only needs to attend one of these soirées while remaining sober: fun? funny? I think not.
Alcohol is an escape from life via self-poisoning, nothing more. College should be a celebration of life, intellectual and creative. To approach it as a time to deaden one's brain is beyond frivolous, and suggests a great reduction in the intellectual challenges that would gain one an actual education for all that time and money invested.
3
And what message do students get when they seek treatment for their anxiety and depression ? Just take (legally prescribed) drugs instead. Medication is often the first line defense offered to stressed students. Medications are what health insurance will cover, in contrast to lengthy counseling sessions spent with a therapist who offers effective methods on coping with stress.
Please don't misunderstand me, I am not against psychiatric meds ( they can be a lifesaver when it comes to depression and other mental health conditions). But intense counseling can also be an effective option for many. Try finding a "talk therapist" reimbursed by insurance plans these days.
No wonder drinking is used as a quick fix and temporary escape from stress. And it even bypasses one major source of stress: dealing with insurance companies.
Please don't misunderstand me, I am not against psychiatric meds ( they can be a lifesaver when it comes to depression and other mental health conditions). But intense counseling can also be an effective option for many. Try finding a "talk therapist" reimbursed by insurance plans these days.
No wonder drinking is used as a quick fix and temporary escape from stress. And it even bypasses one major source of stress: dealing with insurance companies.
1
Colleges need to step up to the plate and do something to change the atmosphere that tolerates excessive drinking. Visiting young relatives on a rural college campus, I have witnessed the partying that goes on, the "weekend" starts on Wednesday with clearly under age students toting case after case of liquor to their frat/sorority houses and dorms. As each of my relatives has gone off to college my best advice has always been that drinking is not a hobby.
1
So much judgement here from the older folks. I'm not of this young generation, but if the majority of young people who don't have rich parents can only get a good education by taking out loans the amount of a year's salary and then cannot find professional jobs after receiving their degree, well I wouldn't be so sure they are pampered. 30 years ago one could work their way through state college. That is impossible now because older generations voted to defund state universities while giving themselves tax breaks. This generation is not pampered or spoiled by any means and they have been done a grave disservice by their elders. That said, the drinking issue has been a reality in colleges for decades, so you can't make that this generation's failing either.
I once worked at one of those small private "elite" liberal arts colleges. When a female student tried to report a rape to the local police - because she knew perfectly well that campus security would just try to bury the incident - campus security blocked local police from coming onto campus to investigate.
When a faculty member complained because the registrar vowed to block registration by any student discovered to be something other than heterosexual, it was the complaining faculty member who was fired rather than the discriminating registrar.
I got out of there and am glad I did. Those places may be okay if you "fit in," but there's a narrow margin for a good fit. If you're an outsider, prepare to be bullied not just by students but by all the conformists who enjoy that type of "community."
When a faculty member complained because the registrar vowed to block registration by any student discovered to be something other than heterosexual, it was the complaining faculty member who was fired rather than the discriminating registrar.
I got out of there and am glad I did. Those places may be okay if you "fit in," but there's a narrow margin for a good fit. If you're an outsider, prepare to be bullied not just by students but by all the conformists who enjoy that type of "community."
Drinking alcohol the point of blacking out is a way to deal with stress, but it is a really, really bad way to deal with stress. Does anyone disagree with that?
Having the drinking age be 21 might explain why some students "pregame" with one or two beers or drinks in their rooms. It does not explain why they have five or six before they go out, only to drink five or six more.
Students with the intelligence to get into college should have more wisdom and self-respect than to visit a house where they serve "pink panty droppers" to their guests.
There are plenty of excuses, but no good reasons to blackout. It is tantamount to attempted suicide.
Having the drinking age be 21 might explain why some students "pregame" with one or two beers or drinks in their rooms. It does not explain why they have five or six before they go out, only to drink five or six more.
Students with the intelligence to get into college should have more wisdom and self-respect than to visit a house where they serve "pink panty droppers" to their guests.
There are plenty of excuses, but no good reasons to blackout. It is tantamount to attempted suicide.
1
It's the drinking age at 21 instead a more rational 18. This does three very bad things: it pushes drinking into the shadows, away from sober adults (at, e.g., a bar), and promotes binging. It prevents kids from seeking help (despite amnesty programs) when friends over drink and pass out. And finally, it adds to the cachet of drinking as a forbidden fruit; a form of parent-condemned fun that is meant to be experienced in the way, and in amounts, most disapproved by authority figures. Of course college drinking was excessive when it was legal at 18, but at least it was done more openly, and it treated students as young adults, engendering, however minimally, at least some sense of responsibility by the time you made it to your senior year...
The protected culture, mixed with amorphous stress, does lead to a culture of escape. My son got a lot of things at college, but one of the things he got that is now a problem is that unnatural sense of a safe zone in which to be blackout drunk. Saying, "who is that jabroni" doesn't lead to incarceration on campus, but try saying it to a city cop out in the real world. This way of thinking is happening in some of our finest universities. What I find most depressing is that these kids got sent to school with the assumption that it was to develop a career first, and to learn about the world became something that only fits in outside the classroom experiences. Hyper competitive cultures may sound good in theory, but they aren't for everyone.
1
My suspicion is that a lot of top students are in the library, at events not focused around drinking, or are drinking moderately at the same time that others are engaging in blackout drinking.
There have always been groups of students who drink to get as drunk as possible. But while their headcount has increased, they don't make up the entire college-age population.
For myself, it took only one night as a naive freshman to drink to great excess to learn that prodigious drinking was not for me. The experience was so off-putting that to this day I avoid beer.
There have always been groups of students who drink to get as drunk as possible. But while their headcount has increased, they don't make up the entire college-age population.
For myself, it took only one night as a naive freshman to drink to great excess to learn that prodigious drinking was not for me. The experience was so off-putting that to this day I avoid beer.
4
"College students drink and use drugs." What else is new?
But the fact is: SOME college students get drunk and use drugs and pass out. Many other college students don't. The idea that this is all that college is about is one more way of making hardworking and conscientious students feel as though they're deviants.
It is also true, as several commenters point out, that if the drinking age were 18 on residential college campuses, student-faculty parties could serve alcohol and students could learn to drink -- and what their capacities are -- in a safe environment. Getting totally wasted would no longer be a way of saying "I'm an adult." And students wouldn't drive back to campus after getting drunk.
But the fact is: SOME college students get drunk and use drugs and pass out. Many other college students don't. The idea that this is all that college is about is one more way of making hardworking and conscientious students feel as though they're deviants.
It is also true, as several commenters point out, that if the drinking age were 18 on residential college campuses, student-faculty parties could serve alcohol and students could learn to drink -- and what their capacities are -- in a safe environment. Getting totally wasted would no longer be a way of saying "I'm an adult." And students wouldn't drive back to campus after getting drunk.
5
My on-going experience on campus and with students suggests this thesis has at best a limited validity.
11
Frankly, I don't see anything new here compared to what I saw at school 30 years ago. Very solid writing describing the centuries-old obsessed buzz-hunters. Oh, the stress. Oh, the boredom. Oh, the peer pressure. Welcome to adulthood, deal with it and recognize immature escapism when you see it. Walk away or play along, but don't wallow in it. The fact is that almost will grow out of it, a select few will be tragedies, and societies have accepted this since the discovery of fermentation. But don't ever suggest there's no choice here.
22
The high-achieving party-goers in Plato's Symposium conduct a preliminary discussion on whether to drink to blackout (as some of them did the night before). They agree instead to use wine only for refreshment. Isn't there a way for elite college admissions officers to screen for students who have this kind of judgment, in addition to their other accomplishments?
9
Sadly, the college culture of heavy drinking as something considered normative will leave many of these students well on their way to becoming alcoholics by the time they graduate.
17
Photographs of a pathological nature illustrating the effects of alcohol on the human brain and liver should be included in freshman courses informing the feckless masses about the ills of alcoholism. I have read about cases in the United Kingdom involving under thirty-somethings requiring liver transplants due to binge drinking-- an authentic hazard. But all part of the master plan -- weaken and sicken the masses, render them too impotent to call the status quo into question and demand constructive change!
2
This article (very well written, btw) and the comments display a familiar refrain: these kids today are decadent, spoiled, and aimless. We've been hearing that for about 3000 years. When I was in college nearly a half century ago, my friends and I drank way too much alcohol. We all knew of car accidents, irresponsible sex, and all the rest. But I'd like to see some hard figures on alcohol abuse over time. And not just at elite colleges. Maybe college-age kids today are drinking more today than my generation did. Maybe not. Until I see reliable data, I'm not panicking.
11
If you segregate young people into situations where they have minimal connections to any other age groups (older or younger) then they invent their own rituals. However the rituals are disconnected to any sense of continuity. So drinking to to a state of extinction makes complete sense.
8
This is a thoughtful, well-written analysis of this problem; I really don't get all the comments condemning students as overprotected, immature, and unladylike. I graduated in 1984 from a good college in a small town and everything the author says is familiar to me--I'm taking this as a reminder to start addressing these issues with my daughter before she approaches college age, and to help her handle stress in positive ways.
14
"I think it’s the stress." You mean it is stressful to be in a quaint town with thousands of students your age and have the opportunity to learn and secure a college degree while joining a club sports team, the debate society and / or volunteer for a local nonprofit?
"Applebee’s tends to get old, and the bowling alley becomes insufficient." In addition to your studies and club activities, have you tired taking a hike on a nearby nature trail or organizing a thematic "Friday Night film festival"?
I simply don't understand why college students in our culture collectively fabricate false stress, and seek to address by numbing their brains with gallons of alcohol when there such wonderful opportunity for betterment all around them.
"Applebee’s tends to get old, and the bowling alley becomes insufficient." In addition to your studies and club activities, have you tired taking a hike on a nearby nature trail or organizing a thematic "Friday Night film festival"?
I simply don't understand why college students in our culture collectively fabricate false stress, and seek to address by numbing their brains with gallons of alcohol when there such wonderful opportunity for betterment all around them.
28
If I understand the author's thesis, it is that these college students drink to the point of unconsciousness because they are so ambitious and hard-working, and because college is so stressful.
I don't buy it. Compared to adult life, college is not that hard, and people drink for a huge number of reasons -- at that age, a prime reason is simply because others are doing it. Ms. Carrick is ignoring a lot of other factors.
I don't buy it. Compared to adult life, college is not that hard, and people drink for a huge number of reasons -- at that age, a prime reason is simply because others are doing it. Ms. Carrick is ignoring a lot of other factors.
31
I don't think the author is contradicting your claim that adult life is hard, harder than college. The author is merely saying that blacking out is part of what success means in college today. In addition to excelling academically, holding internships and jobs, and balancing extracurriculars, students are expected by their peers to party as hard as they can in their remaining time. Look up "FOMO" if you don't believe me. This was certainly the prevalent culture at the university I recently graduated from.
No one is saying that this lifestyle (working yourself to death five days a week and drinking to excess the other two) is "harder" than being an adult. But is it possible that coming of age in that culture might have an effect on your adult life? Is it possible that the "shut up and deal with it" attitude expressed by university administrators, counsellors, and NYT commenters could be part of the problem?
No one is saying that this lifestyle (working yourself to death five days a week and drinking to excess the other two) is "harder" than being an adult. But is it possible that coming of age in that culture might have an effect on your adult life? Is it possible that the "shut up and deal with it" attitude expressed by university administrators, counsellors, and NYT commenters could be part of the problem?
Until society make blackout, rape, physical & emotional abuse a serious taboo the activities will continue.
These activities are male dominated and male driven. Females emulate the blackout to be accepted by the gang and to give the "with it party girl brand" so they will be attractive to the males.
Like graffiti, drinking is given a pass by the society cops as part of our 'freedoms".
The relationships developed now will move beyond to the job market and who wants to be labeled "not on of us" and not get the big break.
These activities are male dominated and male driven. Females emulate the blackout to be accepted by the gang and to give the "with it party girl brand" so they will be attractive to the males.
Like graffiti, drinking is given a pass by the society cops as part of our 'freedoms".
The relationships developed now will move beyond to the job market and who wants to be labeled "not on of us" and not get the big break.
10
There was plenty of drinking when I was in college from 1972-76 and I did a fair amount myself. However, while I saw some people (over four years) drink themselves unconscious, I could count them on the fingers of one hand. Drinking to "blackout" as a mode of self-medication was uncommon, to say the least.
13
They are not trying to drink as much and as fast as they can in order to black out. They are trying to drink as much and as fast as they can in order to impress their friends how much they can drink without blacking out. The former leads to specious conclusions that the author has posited here. The latter has been going on for centuries- not advocating it, but not trying to turn it into something that is plainly is not.
13
the "aspirational blackout" is about 50% of the reason for campus rape.
an important word we don't find in this essay on college student aspirations? "vomit." it's all just a question of "games" and "mentality" and "stress".
liquor is a drug. it's not abused because of stress, but because these kids don't really have anything else important to do with their lives. they don't like to learn, so college is meaningless to them; they're protected from controversy, hardship, hate, actual work; the college loco in parentis will make sure they are safe, well fed and sheltered.
"oh i have such stress about success." naw -- you're just spoiled and terminally bored.
and, by the way: overachievers with alcohol are called drunks.
an important word we don't find in this essay on college student aspirations? "vomit." it's all just a question of "games" and "mentality" and "stress".
liquor is a drug. it's not abused because of stress, but because these kids don't really have anything else important to do with their lives. they don't like to learn, so college is meaningless to them; they're protected from controversy, hardship, hate, actual work; the college loco in parentis will make sure they are safe, well fed and sheltered.
"oh i have such stress about success." naw -- you're just spoiled and terminally bored.
and, by the way: overachievers with alcohol are called drunks.
28
You are out of touch and do not have any objective rational basis for your statements. Things are different now, but I do not believe they are different in the ways that you present. It is not responsible to have such judgments based on one perspective, yours.
You hit the nail on the head, drollere.
Thank you Ms. Carrick for your thoughtful column. I was like you a couple of generations ago: a competitive and ambitious student who succeeded in gaining entrance to an elite college. I did OK my first year, but then went into a depression that pretty much lasted for the remaining three years. I graduated on time, but the experience marked me. It was a crash born of years of constant anxiety, starting in high school, and which, after college, took some time to shake off. So I hear you. I really do. The difference in my day was that the economy was booming and jobs were plentiful. Nowadays, as you note, the pain seems more intense given the way the middle class has been crumbling for the last 30 years, and continues to crumble. We see the result in our politics. It's difficult to sustain a middle-class, liberal democracy in a country where the middle class is shrinking because of the policies of both parties. It seems to me that the anxiety you describe is the campus equivalent of what's given rise in the larger society to Trump.
13
All very, very true. But is alcohol the solution to all these stressors? Why not volunteer, run for office, exercise, learn something new like sewing or gardening--in short, do something meaningful that can help your anxiety, depression, diminishing options?
This 'college behavior', an escape from reality, getting dirt drunk, is toxic indeed. Lets hope a paradigm can be found, where one can have fun without shooting ourselves in the foot...and worse, by losing complete control of reason and decency, even if condoned by the group. Must college grades be so competitive as to drive students out of their minds, instead of a cooperative effort where all can benefit, and learn the subject-matter without panicking into oblivion?
6
I attended a small liberal arts college (then male only) in the middle of nowhere. We were serious about our work and our futures. We drank - sometimes to excess. Drinking or not, we raised a lost of hell and had a lot of fun.
More than anything, I regret hearing that today's students seem unable to do that with or without alcohol or other substances. I think a big part of the problem is parents. Now, they are driven by surveys of the anticipated return per tuition dollar of various diplomas. What hogwash! College is an experience as much as a training ground. After our study and hell-raising we went to many great careers.
More than anything, I regret hearing that today's students seem unable to do that with or without alcohol or other substances. I think a big part of the problem is parents. Now, they are driven by surveys of the anticipated return per tuition dollar of various diplomas. What hogwash! College is an experience as much as a training ground. After our study and hell-raising we went to many great careers.
8
It was my impression that, when I was in college, we were about as hard partying as any students could possibly be. Now that I have two children in their twenties, I am convinced that the younger generation today has taken things to an entirely new level. The frequency and quantity of alcohol consumed is incredible. We are raising a generation that will have high rates of alcoholism and alcohol related dementia if we don't do something to address this.
36
Can you hear the silence? It's the government's utter indifference towards this public health hazard which is simply not as sexy as the War on Drugs justifying tremendous outlays for military gear and surveillance on the southern border. In fact, the libertarian bent of today's society would even tell us to mind our own business, let the kids destroy themselves because it's an inalienable right.
3
Not sure if you went to school in Wisconsin, but when I was there Rolling Stone put out its annual list of Party Schools based mostly on alcohol consumption. One year UW Madison didn't make the list because Rolling Stone considered it unfair to include professionals with amateurs. There were plenty of people doing things like this 30 years ago. Myself on ocaission. Had a 7:30 am SATURDAY lab on semester. Half the students were so hung over they could barely move or sometimes still intoxicated. BTW at the time the drinking age was 18, so in many cases kids got a lot of this out of the system in High School.
1
Will there come a time when people will stop playing the "stress card?" When I was in school in the late 70's, the unemployment rate was around 7.8%. Today it's closer to 5,% after a pretty robust recovery.
The government is not to blame for your problems. The schools are not to blame. Your parents are not to blame. In fact, you can't start out life looking for someone to blame. You have to grow up and take responsibility for your own actions. That, my stressed out friends, is the essence of being an adult.
The government is not to blame for your problems. The schools are not to blame. Your parents are not to blame. In fact, you can't start out life looking for someone to blame. You have to grow up and take responsibility for your own actions. That, my stressed out friends, is the essence of being an adult.
17
Possible solution: let kids start drinking in high school. I drank my fair share of beer in high school, and by the time college rolled around all the mystique was gone. The students who always seemed to end up in the hospital getting their stomachs pumped were the ones with zero exposure prior to arriving on campus.
4
Drinking to blackout is not a coping mechanism. It is dangerous behavior and should be viewed as such. College administrations can do much to address it but refuse to (like rape?). All people of all ages experience stress and fear. Most people can learn to cope with a variety of measures. We do the best we can.
Blackout drinking by anyone for any reason in any circumstance is a serious problem that should not be ignored.
Blackout drinking by anyone for any reason in any circumstance is a serious problem that should not be ignored.
5
The ultimate goal in life is not money, but happiness. We stress ourselves in college because we want good jobs upon graduation, fine goal. But, if it takes an extra semester, a change of college, a change from destructive friendships, then take the steps necessary to protect what matters most-happiness. If you view your choices through this lens, it can help you eliminate sources of destruction. Drinking does not make you happy ultimately, it takes the edge off temporary discomfort.
I think a huge source of anxiety in college is the expectation to conform to social norms. Test it out, see if it fits, if not, be true to yourself first. You're the one you need approval from first and foremost. Find other ways to cope with the stressful aspects of life. When our human interactions are less than we had hope for, look to the animal kingdom for companionship, a cat, dog, bird. They have so much unconditional love to give and also relieve stress. Off campus housing can provide this opportunity. Both my nephew and daughter completely changed the dynamic of their college experiences, he got a dog, she got a cat. Amid the stress, look inside for your cues, not just outside pressure. Be strong, march to your own drummer, work to increase your happiness-the true goal.
I think a huge source of anxiety in college is the expectation to conform to social norms. Test it out, see if it fits, if not, be true to yourself first. You're the one you need approval from first and foremost. Find other ways to cope with the stressful aspects of life. When our human interactions are less than we had hope for, look to the animal kingdom for companionship, a cat, dog, bird. They have so much unconditional love to give and also relieve stress. Off campus housing can provide this opportunity. Both my nephew and daughter completely changed the dynamic of their college experiences, he got a dog, she got a cat. Amid the stress, look inside for your cues, not just outside pressure. Be strong, march to your own drummer, work to increase your happiness-the true goal.
11
Many readers of this article are likely several decades removed from college. They will bemoan "kids these days" or say "it's the same as always" and then go back to their lives where they immediately discard any resume from a potential hire that isn't perfect, vote to raise tuition through further cuts to funding for education, and to raise housing prices to even more extreme levels by restricting development. Boomers have their nice lives, why should they possibly imagine why young people feel stressed?
4
All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.
If only there were a sense of play in the daily activities necessary to get college students into the "real" world and further, to get adults through their every day lives. Work hard/party hard might not then be such a relevant dichotomy.
If only there were a sense of play in the daily activities necessary to get college students into the "real" world and further, to get adults through their every day lives. Work hard/party hard might not then be such a relevant dichotomy.
1
Modernist/nihilism teaches that reality is random and that man's mind (his basic method of survival) is impotent. This causes chronic anxiety, a warning that mind is corrupted and motivating the desire for methods of temporarily reducing the consciousness of intellectual impotence and thus pain. See: Munch's, "The Scream," Obama's, "You didnt build that," and Hillary's, "It takes a village."
2
I agree 100%! Except it is POST-MODERN. Modernism was the brief light between infinite dark ages of the pre-Modern and then the post-Modern.
This is a huge problem on American campuses, and it's tremendously harmful to women who render themselves totally defenseless. Anyone who argues differently is pretending not to see the elephant in the room. It is a major factor in the current campus rape polemic. This is not to say that men can drink and women can't or that bad behavior from drunk men is acceptable or that men are held to a looser standard.
I have two daughters and the fact of the matter is, if you are female and you prefer not to be some sicko's prey, then you cannot drink to the point of blackout, and I am not going to tell my daughters that it's OK to get as drunk as the boys, because it's not. That has always been true and it will always be true. Like with every other thing in life, better to be safe than sorry.
The daughter of a family friend was attacked and killed on the doorstep of her residence on a state university campus. She was so inebriated that she was totally incapacitated and they found her body far out of town. Such a stupid reason to die or to put yourself at risk.
That said, a young American college student in Rome died recently, mugged by a bum because he was too drunk to see. So men are not immune either.
I have two daughters and the fact of the matter is, if you are female and you prefer not to be some sicko's prey, then you cannot drink to the point of blackout, and I am not going to tell my daughters that it's OK to get as drunk as the boys, because it's not. That has always been true and it will always be true. Like with every other thing in life, better to be safe than sorry.
The daughter of a family friend was attacked and killed on the doorstep of her residence on a state university campus. She was so inebriated that she was totally incapacitated and they found her body far out of town. Such a stupid reason to die or to put yourself at risk.
That said, a young American college student in Rome died recently, mugged by a bum because he was too drunk to see. So men are not immune either.
15
My problem was that I drank because none of these women, defenseless or otherwise, would have a relationship with me.
Please. College students, other young people, and clan groups do not need any overarching fear to drink to excess.
The only difference in drinking behavior between my Ivy League fraternity and the first four Vietnam-era USAF fighter squadrons (in US, Thailand, Germany, Thailand, and Thailand again) to which I was assigned was that, instead of going to classes, we flew airplanes. Moreover, in both types of organizations, a favored pastime was singing and playing often dangerous games in the club bars.
The only difference in drinking behavior between my Ivy League fraternity and the first four Vietnam-era USAF fighter squadrons (in US, Thailand, Germany, Thailand, and Thailand again) to which I was assigned was that, instead of going to classes, we flew airplanes. Moreover, in both types of organizations, a favored pastime was singing and playing often dangerous games in the club bars.
5
Let us draft a clause in medical insurance policies that such self-imposed bodily abuse NOT be covered by insurers! University students should undergo mandatory substance abuse courses in their freshmen year to inform them of the ills of alcoholism -- it should not be the responsibility of the sober insured to contribute to the 'addictions' of the party hearty crowd who invited cirrhosis and brain damage upon themselves. I have zero sympathy for alcoholics, just another reckless lifestyle choice like bodysuit flying.
3
AE: How is denying insurance coverage a solution? With all the many factors discussed in the piece and in the comments, is the rather abstract notion that one cannot get insured medical treatment somehow going to be a decisive factor in the calculus of whether to drink or not? And without insurance, you are almost guaranteeing that a person will be a public burden when brought to a hospital for alcohol poisoning, etc., since they cannot be denied treatment, and many cannot afford to pay for hospital treatment out of pocket.
The ridiculous drinking age law has a role in all the binge drinking. We've made it a crime for a 20-year-old to drink a beer, so much drinking is done furtively with a goal of instant intoxication by guzzling hard liquor. When I was in college and the age was 18, there was plenty of drinking, but we did a lot of it in bars or in dorm lounges and campus spaces. If we had a keg at a party, we had to register it with campus security who would come by and check on things. There is a movement to lower the drinking age for college students, but too many administrators still take the approach of strict enforcement, which succeeds only in driving the heavy drinking out of sight.
15
I am an advocate for sexual assault survivors, and you'd be surprised by how many rape victims self-medicate with alcohol and drugs. I am working with a survivor now who was molested as a child, never received treatment, and then spent her entire freshman year binge drinking until she was ultimately targeted by a 30 year old man who heard she was easy and offered to buy her a drink - which she accepted, and then woke up to him raping her for hours. I recently read an article which found this is common - a huge chunk of college rape survivors have been raped multiple times. They are abused, binge drink, are then made vulnerable, and targeted again. Oh and by the way, to the writer, you would never guess if you took a class with this girl that she has suffered a lifetime of abuse, that she regularly suffers from panic attacks, and that she currently sleeps with a knife under her bed.
16
One need not be an alcoholic to surmise the danger(s) associated with drinking to excess. Anything to excess, is potentially deleterious. My guess is that the author's "blackouts" are in fact instances of "passing out." There is a big difference, ask any alcoholic.
Kids coming into college are seldom fully formed psychologically and a large part of their innate curriculum is to "try on" various persona. Experimentation is the name of the game. The pressure to achieve, which is both powerful and intrinsic to North American culture, is but one of numerous impulses encountered upon leaving home. We learn the most from our stumbles.
Kids coming into college are seldom fully formed psychologically and a large part of their innate curriculum is to "try on" various persona. Experimentation is the name of the game. The pressure to achieve, which is both powerful and intrinsic to North American culture, is but one of numerous impulses encountered upon leaving home. We learn the most from our stumbles.
4
The pressure to achieve exactly what?
An important part of combating binge drinking on college campuses is recognizing the significance of the pregame, which the author mentions. Many college campuses boast large public health campaigns to curb binge drinking, but they mostly focus on drinking at bars, or at on campus parties.
As a junior in college myself, I would say the first four or five drinks are consumed quickly before heading to the main event, and that these drinks are motivated by many different reasons than the drinks consumed at the actual party. These would include stress, but also cost effectiveness, and social anxieties. Many of the strategies out there to combat blackout culture are not effective in this setting, because you aren't going to alternate water between cups if you are playing beer pong, or limit yourself to one an hour when you realize the drinks will be much more expensive once you make it to the bar.
As a junior in college myself, I would say the first four or five drinks are consumed quickly before heading to the main event, and that these drinks are motivated by many different reasons than the drinks consumed at the actual party. These would include stress, but also cost effectiveness, and social anxieties. Many of the strategies out there to combat blackout culture are not effective in this setting, because you aren't going to alternate water between cups if you are playing beer pong, or limit yourself to one an hour when you realize the drinks will be much more expensive once you make it to the bar.
6
I can't understand why these "competitive overachievers" don't spend their time actually conversing with each other about subjects of interest....their courses, perhaps, or the political issues of the day, rather than spending the evening vomiting out what's left of their brains. It would seem that they're more interested in "achievement" than actual intellectual development. Not wanting to think beyond easy-to-digest propaganda might explain how we ended up with Reagan, GW Bush and possibly Trump.
7
Once again it seems like many college students are not mature enough to handle the challenges and temptations offered on campus. Perhaps a year or two of mandatory national service, or other exposure to real life, after high school would give them some necessary life skills.
3
Here is a good reason to drink on college campuses. Read this "rationality problem" (an intellectual game problem) derived from the Gray Matter article in the Sunday 9/16/16 NY Times titled "The difference between rationality and intelligence":
“Linda is 31 years old, single, outspoken and very bright. She majored in philosophy. As a student, she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice, and also participated in antinuclear demonstrations. Now with this information in hand which is more probable: Linda is (A) a bank teller or Linda is (B) a bank teller and is active in the feminist movement? The answer is A even though 85% of subjects tested chose B. A is the correct answer because logically "All feminist bank tellers are bank tellers, though some bank tellers may not be feminists."
Does that kind of reasoning, rationality, make you want to drink or what? Let me see if I can examine this: We are given the history of Linda--philosophy, social justice background, etc.--then given the two choices of her future and are told by logic, rationality, she is just a bank teller and not a feminist as well, as if all her background counts for nothing and it just makes more sense that she, all of Linda, her hopes and dreams, are to be summed up as...bank teller. No, the 85% of people in this case are wrong--it makes more sense to conclude Linda is just a bank teller and not a feminist as well. Do the rational thing philosophy major! Become a bank teller!
“Linda is 31 years old, single, outspoken and very bright. She majored in philosophy. As a student, she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice, and also participated in antinuclear demonstrations. Now with this information in hand which is more probable: Linda is (A) a bank teller or Linda is (B) a bank teller and is active in the feminist movement? The answer is A even though 85% of subjects tested chose B. A is the correct answer because logically "All feminist bank tellers are bank tellers, though some bank tellers may not be feminists."
Does that kind of reasoning, rationality, make you want to drink or what? Let me see if I can examine this: We are given the history of Linda--philosophy, social justice background, etc.--then given the two choices of her future and are told by logic, rationality, she is just a bank teller and not a feminist as well, as if all her background counts for nothing and it just makes more sense that she, all of Linda, her hopes and dreams, are to be summed up as...bank teller. No, the 85% of people in this case are wrong--it makes more sense to conclude Linda is just a bank teller and not a feminist as well. Do the rational thing philosophy major! Become a bank teller!
1
My, imagine if the colleges actually took some responsibility, (other than for collecting tuition) and let the parents know that fraternities would be stringently monitored--and shut down if they didn't toe the line. Maybe we need to start monitoring the universities and publishing a "drinking score" so parents and students could make better informed choices.
3
I am curious as to 1.) the long term impact on health of this drinking, 2.) how students can study the next day and 3.) whether they will continue to deal with the stress of their competitive careers in the same way.
5
The pressure on kids to succeed in a world that is all too present is simply ridiculously soul crushing. There is absolutely no down time in their lives to attempt to form a sense of themselves. From the time they are in middle school it is instagram, facebook, pinterest, etc. and how can I one up someone or how am I being one upped by everybody else. There is no thinking time, no processing time, no time to evaluate what your lived experience is telling you because their is very little to no lived experience, just a very calculated, contrived virtual life.
4
When I went to college, a party school, in the 1970's everyone knew, or quickly learned, about frats. What is described in this article is exactly what frats are known for and have been for many decades in American life. If that is the sort of thing you are interested in while at a university then head for the frats. That is what you will get. I, my friends, room mates and dorm buddies easily avoided such nonsense by avoiding the frats. We still had lots of fun, without the binge drinking, because binge drinking is an integral part of frat culture.
1
A speaker and recovering addict visiting my son's school told parents that while it is true that 40% of students will binge drink at some point during college, that leaves a majority who do not. Then there are the ones who do not drink at all (including my husband and myself). Another parent on the soccer field noted "I remember my college partying days, Everybody drinks." Our speaker encouraged parents not to normalize drinking to excess. He suggested normalizing the idea,the truth, that some kids do binge drink, that many do not, that you should make your own own choices without feeling the pressure, peer and otherwise, to do what you have been told is "normal" for college students.
2
Deep down, college kids are not proud of blacking out. When it happens, it's easier to laugh it off than confront it as a serious problem.
The good news is that according to my anecdotal evidence, most college kids stop drinking that way after working in the real world for 2-3 years. The "adult" responsibilities combined with aging make the college lifestyle difficult to maintain.
The good news is that according to my anecdotal evidence, most college kids stop drinking that way after working in the real world for 2-3 years. The "adult" responsibilities combined with aging make the college lifestyle difficult to maintain.
1
Pre-gaming by drinking a lot of hard alcohol is a direct result of the 21-year old drinking law and campus restrictions on allowing drinking by minors. Most 18-20 year olds at college are going to drink. Ineffective attempts to prevent them from doing so just cause them to drink in an unsafe manner.
6
I am, admitedly, an old fart and my college days are not quite 50 years in the past. However, what I do remember is the pressure, especially on the men (ever wait for a draft notice?). And there were factions that drank A LOT. I hung with what would now be called the "stoners" - we smoked a lot of pot but alwyas made those 8:00am Monday classes - and didn't drink much - a few beers on the weekends. This culture was pervasive in the sciences and engineering students - hopefully it still is because I can't imagine trying to learn advanced calculus with a hangover. Maybe it's time to take a look at pot culture versus alcohol culture at colleges. Yes, it was a different world back then, but it seems to me alcohol does a whole lot more damage in so many ways than just getting stoned enough to play "find your foot".
4
My son figured out for himself (after losing his scholarship) that he had to give up pot in order to do well in engineering school. He went on to earn his masters and PhD in engineering.
It was Dostoyevsky who said "If there were no god, the man will invent one. "
If college students went to the Arcadia University in ancient Peloponnese and majored in "Enjoyment of the Paradise" and had no worries, some will invent reasons to drink to blackout.
Being out of the cage of parental discipline, 10:00 PM curfews, sleep early, and get up early, move the lawn, go get a hair cut and ad nauseam. Lack of previous occupiers of a young hungry person's time and mind will leave a huge crater of time and hunger for experiment and exercise of the newly acquired freedom. And so young person will choose the easiest.
Sure I dated myself. But the nature of these things don't change much.
If college students went to the Arcadia University in ancient Peloponnese and majored in "Enjoyment of the Paradise" and had no worries, some will invent reasons to drink to blackout.
Being out of the cage of parental discipline, 10:00 PM curfews, sleep early, and get up early, move the lawn, go get a hair cut and ad nauseam. Lack of previous occupiers of a young hungry person's time and mind will leave a huge crater of time and hunger for experiment and exercise of the newly acquired freedom. And so young person will choose the easiest.
Sure I dated myself. But the nature of these things don't change much.
Many of these kids see the same behavior at home. They see parents and relatives come home and start drinking. It all appears normal. I am not a prude, there is nothing wrong with drinking. Problem is that we don't drink in moderation, like let's say the Italians. They have one, maybe two glasses of wine with their dinner and call it a night. We tend to supesize everything in the States. Big bottles, big glasses and equally big appetities. A good start is parents modeling behavior for their children.
2
When I quit drinking in 1981 after a youth and young adulthood filled with alcohol related drama and crises, I read everything I could find on alcoholism and drinking alcohol. I learned that alcohol is a dangerous poison. What, in small quantities, relieved my anxiety and greased my social acumen, could, in large quantities, kill me in quite creative ways. Look in the Monday newspaper for the alcohol related carnage of the weekend. Vehicle accidents, shootings, beatings. Drinking as described is like playing with a loaded gun. The result is tragic, alcohol poisoning or like a friend of mine who I was trying to help quit drinking, death by drowning...in his own vomit.
8
In my day we drank for fun in college. That, of course, is the point: every generation learns different things about a different world in a different way. And if I were facing what college kids face today, having survived the myriad hoops they had to go through just to get into college (once upon a time there wasn't much more needed than a 3.2 GPA and a sly hint in your application essay that your parents could afford the tuition--which in those days they could--unless you were going for major Ivy, which required a 4.0 and being somebody's relative), not to mention perpetually being stereotyped as coddled slackers overindulged and overprotected by doting moms and dads who want to be friends, I'd chuck the beer and hit the serious hot sauce too.
6
Interesting. And now, giving the bombings and the stock market and
whatever else it is that has roiled everyone so lately, including weather
disasters and California fires and seemingly surging diagnosis of
heart and lung and leg misadventures, when will we get a story about
how the rest of us are faring.
Granted, it must be more devastating to believe your whole long life is
going to be lousey, but it ain't fun in the rest of the atmosphere, either.
Nature and fate seem to be in a very bad mood. What are our peers
drinking? And where are words of advice?
whatever else it is that has roiled everyone so lately, including weather
disasters and California fires and seemingly surging diagnosis of
heart and lung and leg misadventures, when will we get a story about
how the rest of us are faring.
Granted, it must be more devastating to believe your whole long life is
going to be lousey, but it ain't fun in the rest of the atmosphere, either.
Nature and fate seem to be in a very bad mood. What are our peers
drinking? And where are words of advice?
There is probably a better way to transition from childhood to adulthood. And there is no question that this can have dangerous consequences. But
I wish that I had had the opportunity to experience this transition.
I wish that I had had the opportunity to experience this transition.
OMG. This happened to my son's. My wife and I do not drink BUT as it is the 'norm' we encouraged our boys to drink at home (16 onwards and NOT to access) and if ever at a party call us and we would pick them up 'no questions asked". Our boys made it through college onto life.. but with massive financial debt as did their girl friends and best friends. I blame it on ourselves. These are all beautiful kids. They all came to our place from kindergarten onwards, swimming and playing in the only private pool in the neighborhood in a small city in the Northwest. If we vote Trump in expect more of the same issues. We need to take the stress away from our teenagers! financial debt of $100K at 23 years old. Are you joking? It is bad enough at 30 or 40. I had no debt in my 20's, I also had no degree. I was very lucky. You cannot get any decent job without a Masters these days. And this vicious cycle is promoted by colleges who churn out degrees for business and then increase the fees each year. College is a business with zero over sight for extracurricula activities. This has to stop. Our children are suffering although not to the degree as the kids in Syria, but has the world gone mad! Let us see who gets elected President. We adults are responsible for this world these kids live in.
5
Pick any college or university.
Pick 100 random freshman.
Find out for a study what they would like to do:
Drink alcohol
Use marijuana
Use heroin
Use cocaine
Use crack
Use meth
Gamble to excess
Sex to excess
Eat to excess or starve to excess or purge to excess
Use ???
Track them for 10 years.
The ones with the unbalanced make up will become addicted.
2-3% of the addicted will have abstinence and recovery on a long term basis
The majority will struggle, overdose, commit suicide or be imprisoned
Wake up society we have a short and long range problem in our country
Pick 100 random freshman.
Find out for a study what they would like to do:
Drink alcohol
Use marijuana
Use heroin
Use cocaine
Use crack
Use meth
Gamble to excess
Sex to excess
Eat to excess or starve to excess or purge to excess
Use ???
Track them for 10 years.
The ones with the unbalanced make up will become addicted.
2-3% of the addicted will have abstinence and recovery on a long term basis
The majority will struggle, overdose, commit suicide or be imprisoned
Wake up society we have a short and long range problem in our country
3
People drink to excess because alcohol is an addictive drug.
You get hooked on the stuff, and when the effect wears off the inevitable withdrawal symptoms, (playfully called "hangovers"), kick in so you go and consume more stuff gradually needing more and more to quell the effects of the withdrawal symptoms, eventually consuming enough alcohol to cause blackouts to occur.
You get hooked on the stuff, and when the effect wears off the inevitable withdrawal symptoms, (playfully called "hangovers"), kick in so you go and consume more stuff gradually needing more and more to quell the effects of the withdrawal symptoms, eventually consuming enough alcohol to cause blackouts to occur.
5
Sorry, I am not buying it. Having been a college student, the people who binged drank and blacked out were people who were most uncomfortable being themselves in social situations. It was far easier for both parties to get stupid drunk and have no accountability for their actions than to engage in a real conversation.
7
I'm not buying it. I went to an Ivy League school in the early aughts, during the height of the bull market. This article perfectly describes the behavior of many of my friends. It was as mystifying to me then as it is now, but it absolutely is not new, nor does it have anything to do with the economy or the pressure to achieve. My friends who were most interested in getting blackout were generally the ones least interested in attending class, getting good grades, or getting into graduate school.
10
I'm surprised by the dismissive tone of many of these comments.
College and job placement are measurably more competitive than they were even ten years ago. It's only going to get more competitive as population & international migration continue to increase. With way more money (debt) on the line, these kids are starting life at a financial deficit with the fear that their hard work may earn them not much more than a degree, unforgivable debt, and severe competition for unpaid labor--I mean "internships". Theirs is a kind of stress that is not comparable to the stress of writing a long term paper or pulling an 'all-nighter'.
Mix into this cocktail our society's obsession with alcohol and the relentless message that alcohol is the solution to everything. Alcohol is for partying, relaxing, grieving, celebrating, connecting, isolating, being yourself, being outside of yourself...on and on. The truth is alcohol is a toxin that only adds to the stress these kids feel, and the short&long-term effects of alcohol abuse (binge drinking) are just as bad as the short&long-term effects of stress.
This is how the cycle of alcoholism begins--booze to reward/alleviate/blackout the emotions you can't manage, the fears you have to learn to live with. Unless we do better by our kids emotionally--with counseling and perhaps an honest national conversation about alcohol abuse--we are setting them up for addiction, the ultimate performance inhibitor.
College and job placement are measurably more competitive than they were even ten years ago. It's only going to get more competitive as population & international migration continue to increase. With way more money (debt) on the line, these kids are starting life at a financial deficit with the fear that their hard work may earn them not much more than a degree, unforgivable debt, and severe competition for unpaid labor--I mean "internships". Theirs is a kind of stress that is not comparable to the stress of writing a long term paper or pulling an 'all-nighter'.
Mix into this cocktail our society's obsession with alcohol and the relentless message that alcohol is the solution to everything. Alcohol is for partying, relaxing, grieving, celebrating, connecting, isolating, being yourself, being outside of yourself...on and on. The truth is alcohol is a toxin that only adds to the stress these kids feel, and the short&long-term effects of alcohol abuse (binge drinking) are just as bad as the short&long-term effects of stress.
This is how the cycle of alcoholism begins--booze to reward/alleviate/blackout the emotions you can't manage, the fears you have to learn to live with. Unless we do better by our kids emotionally--with counseling and perhaps an honest national conversation about alcohol abuse--we are setting them up for addiction, the ultimate performance inhibitor.
7
First I want to thank you for shinig a spotlight on a little known problem.
When the movie "Animal House" was first released, people of my generation thought that it was hilarious. Not because it resembled our experiences but because it didm't. Sure ew had parties, but we never really made an effort to behave like that. We were busy enjoying the opportunity in the 60's and early 70's that allowed even poor people like me to afford an education. The sky was the limit. We could become doctors, lawyers, social workers, architecs, engineers, poets and small business owners. Not anymore.
Today, I look into the empyu eyes of people in their 20's and I see no hope. Because they cannot count on the government to help them acheive their goals.
Why should the government help? Because the return on investment is incredible. Thanks to the GI bill and grants and scholarships I was able to become an MD in 1979. I paid hundred's of thousands more in taxes then had I spent my life in a minimum wage job.
Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of stress involved in spending 24 years in school. But because it was affordable for a child of blue collar workers, financial stress was not one of the, I had a tiny studio, a bus pass and a desire to succeed. All these students see and hear today is hateful, divise, fact-free politicians. And since they can't get an education to introduce facts to them, we have Trump.
They will vote for him. They are desperate. He's a lottery ticket.
When the movie "Animal House" was first released, people of my generation thought that it was hilarious. Not because it resembled our experiences but because it didm't. Sure ew had parties, but we never really made an effort to behave like that. We were busy enjoying the opportunity in the 60's and early 70's that allowed even poor people like me to afford an education. The sky was the limit. We could become doctors, lawyers, social workers, architecs, engineers, poets and small business owners. Not anymore.
Today, I look into the empyu eyes of people in their 20's and I see no hope. Because they cannot count on the government to help them acheive their goals.
Why should the government help? Because the return on investment is incredible. Thanks to the GI bill and grants and scholarships I was able to become an MD in 1979. I paid hundred's of thousands more in taxes then had I spent my life in a minimum wage job.
Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of stress involved in spending 24 years in school. But because it was affordable for a child of blue collar workers, financial stress was not one of the, I had a tiny studio, a bus pass and a desire to succeed. All these students see and hear today is hateful, divise, fact-free politicians. And since they can't get an education to introduce facts to them, we have Trump.
They will vote for him. They are desperate. He's a lottery ticket.
6
While Ms. Carrick did provide an informative and alarming article, I can't help but feel for the school, and the students she described. While she doesn't mention the school by name, a quick search solved that puzzle. Would I ever think of sending my child there? Of course not. I certainly do not want my child exposed to under age binge drinking, which of course does not happen at the University of North Carolina, which she now attends.
In the small town with a large university where I currently live, we get between 10-20 students per night coming to the ER unconscious, covered in vomit, often alone without anyone knowing where or how they are. Often someone will call the rescue squad reporting a person lying on the ground, unconscious. We aren't allowed to compromise their privacy by calling their parents without their permission and there is no one to drive them home. They spend the night in an ER bed with an unsympathetic ER nurse or security guard keeping them alive only to be sent home alone in a taxi the next morning. It's a new batch each weekend, so I can only hope that it is a one-time learning experience for each of them. It's a rough experience, though, and one I wish we could collectively spare them somehow...
6
Maybe the real stress is from the students' inability to face real problems the 99% must in real life. Not entirely their fault, but more so from us adults who shelter and encourage the carefree indulging pre-real world life. When we were in college kids partied too, but seldom to excess I see happening today, not to mention we simply did not have the lifestyle these kids seem to with easy money to spend from parents or loans. It's to the point where 'hardship' to our generation is laughed upon by the students today as being poor and cheap.
2
So white non-college educated Americans take drugs, drink to excess, and die by suicide or from organ failure, and now educated young people drink to black out on a regular basis. And the reason for all this is that individuals in each category cannot cope with the changed world and the non-traditional present and uncertain future facing them.
What a mess our country has become. Seems no one can bear the present, and no one can see a happy future. No wonder Mr. vast-promises-with-magical-thinking-blame-"the-other" Trump is doing as well as he is in the polls.
What a mess our country has become. Seems no one can bear the present, and no one can see a happy future. No wonder Mr. vast-promises-with-magical-thinking-blame-"the-other" Trump is doing as well as he is in the polls.
1
35 years ago, the blackout drink of choice at my college was lemonade and vodka. I apparently lack the brain circuits that make any amount of alcohol enjoyable, so I watched and marveled as I dodged unconscious bodies and puddles of vomit in dorm hallways, that anyone would subject themselves to blackout drinking or find anything relaxing in it.
My escape was the front row of the film club's nightly showing -- it cost only a dollar to feel like I was sitting in Rick's Cafe or solving a Hitchcock murder. If I needed to feel drunk, I went to the "Effed-Up Shorts Nights" which featured collections of arty or instructional or propaganda movie "shorts" that were so bad as to be either completely incomprehensible or howlingly funny. And I never had a hangover next morning.
I'll never know which of those students I stepped over in the hallways grew out of their blackout binges, and which ones went on to full-blown alcoholism.
My escape was the front row of the film club's nightly showing -- it cost only a dollar to feel like I was sitting in Rick's Cafe or solving a Hitchcock murder. If I needed to feel drunk, I went to the "Effed-Up Shorts Nights" which featured collections of arty or instructional or propaganda movie "shorts" that were so bad as to be either completely incomprehensible or howlingly funny. And I never had a hangover next morning.
I'll never know which of those students I stepped over in the hallways grew out of their blackout binges, and which ones went on to full-blown alcoholism.
6
"Pregaming" or drink before you go just to get drunk is common not just a buzz but drunk. Thinking that drinking until blackout is safe is beyond naive as is expecting your friends to see you get home safely [aren't they drunk too?]. Parents can talk about the dangers of alcohol and dumb or unsafe behavior at home and early to both daughters and sons. Wherever there are groups of college students/high school students/middle schoolers gathering there's often alcohol and more than 80% of campus sexual assaults involve alcohol by both men and women [Abbey, 2009]. It's not a matter of blaming the victim but reminding each that alcohol in excess can lead to people doing/saying/having something terrible happen which may alter forever your life and even end it. Social media gives us multiple examples of teaching moments that have gone viral [forever] to share with our children but it also can glorify the action. We've been educating ourselves about drunk driving even smoking which has changed the landscape and expectations in society. This is an important opinion piece on alcohol abuse but let's not try to tie it to just to social decay, drinking age, sororities or fraternities, colleges [high schools and middle schools too]. Alcohol in itself isn't bad but alcohol in excess can destroy everything in just a moment or over the years and it is as reckless and dangerous as drunk driving.
2
The best way to avoid the stress mentioned in the article:
1. Work and Study hard
2. Acquire skills that people will pay for
These are appropriate for college graduates also. But if you're in college or about to head there, pay close attention to the marketplace where you will be required to earn a living once college is done. It's clear to anyone in high school that the world doesn't appear to be waiting for more graduates with degrees in English, or Medieval History, or French Literature, or Judaic Studies, or Middle-Eastern Studies. If you're observant, you'll also note that the US appears to be following Europe and Canada with respect to medical services - socializing health care destroys the pay scales of medical professionals.
A lot of things to keep in mind when choosing how to live life while getting a college degree.
1. Work and Study hard
2. Acquire skills that people will pay for
These are appropriate for college graduates also. But if you're in college or about to head there, pay close attention to the marketplace where you will be required to earn a living once college is done. It's clear to anyone in high school that the world doesn't appear to be waiting for more graduates with degrees in English, or Medieval History, or French Literature, or Judaic Studies, or Middle-Eastern Studies. If you're observant, you'll also note that the US appears to be following Europe and Canada with respect to medical services - socializing health care destroys the pay scales of medical professionals.
A lot of things to keep in mind when choosing how to live life while getting a college degree.
1
True, the pay scales of medical professions have changed. However, the starting salaries are still much better than almost anything other than IT.
The children with genetic mutations that are linked to mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, etc. etc. turn these mutations on when they stress their bodies with toxins such as alcohol and other drugs. This sets them up for a lifetime of mental illness as well as their children. These mutations are fairly common in the population.
It is my understanding that only about 70% of those with clinical depression have the genetic mutation related to this particular malady, and that this high incidence rate is not seen in the general population. No one knows what "turns on" this mutation, which definitely is genetic.
As usual, it is a combo of environmet and genetics that determines how sick one gets. As to passing it on, it works just like other genetic traits, and may not manifest any symptoms in the carriers.
PS: I have one copy of this genetic mutation, and have suffered from depression most of my life. My brother has two copies, but didn't begin to suffer symptoms until his wife was diagnosed with MS. Obviously both of our parents are carriers, with no symptoms in dad while mom suffers from a personality disorder.
As usual, it is a combo of environmet and genetics that determines how sick one gets. As to passing it on, it works just like other genetic traits, and may not manifest any symptoms in the carriers.
PS: I have one copy of this genetic mutation, and have suffered from depression most of my life. My brother has two copies, but didn't begin to suffer symptoms until his wife was diagnosed with MS. Obviously both of our parents are carriers, with no symptoms in dad while mom suffers from a personality disorder.
As a college pot head, I never experienced all these alcohol induced negatives. Also enjoyed good grades and then a satisfying professional career. Weed is a better, safer, healthier stress reliever. Legal weed may well diminish some of this insanity, as it seems to be doing in reducing opioid use.
5
Colleges need to rethink their role. Maybe there should be no grades? (In fact I don't think there should be. Have a series of national exams, given at the end of a particular course of study.) A PhD and former college level teacher myself, having had interesting encounters w. college professors recently -- guess why no on has ever heard of Coursera, Udacity, Ed X and stupid profs are still warning their students about the evils of Wikipedia (what a bunch of capitalists or is it monopolists.) Frankly, there needs to be a 100 percent free Federal online university--OK 49$ certificates and then the Feds can give less $$ to brick and mortar institutions (how to pay for this).
There is knowledge -- there is learning how the world works (who you know in gov. and writing the laws that will benefit YOU), there is finding friends and your partner in life (maybe), there is the brain developing (until you are 26), there is learning specific skills in various subjects -- some of which may be useful in a career setting.) Of course, kids should be drinking responsibly but deplorables are jerks, however blacked out there will be no date rape. Always look on the brite side of life. PS students should also learn that it depends on how you look at things, that work (including latrine duty) is noble and that for the most part they are lucky to be living when they are living. Why so much doom and gloom. If robots do the work, you have time to create your masterpiece.
There is knowledge -- there is learning how the world works (who you know in gov. and writing the laws that will benefit YOU), there is finding friends and your partner in life (maybe), there is the brain developing (until you are 26), there is learning specific skills in various subjects -- some of which may be useful in a career setting.) Of course, kids should be drinking responsibly but deplorables are jerks, however blacked out there will be no date rape. Always look on the brite side of life. PS students should also learn that it depends on how you look at things, that work (including latrine duty) is noble and that for the most part they are lucky to be living when they are living. Why so much doom and gloom. If robots do the work, you have time to create your masterpiece.
Well, maybe. When I attended college it was not the high achieving students that drank to excess. Just the opposite...they were labelled "party animals." Of course, I attended a state school, not an elite private school. Today I audit college classes, including graduate courses. The most common fault I see in a lots of students is laziness. Many don't read assignments; they don't ask questions nor answer them in class. In fact, they act today just as students with whom I attended many years ago. Nothing has changed much.
1
How little people seem to understand the not-at-all-casual link between "aspirational blackouts" and campus rape. Unfortunately the author seems to downright glorify and justify consuming that much alcohol at one sitting, yet seems to pretend that it's an activity where the people involved are somehow all in control over everything. Certainly legions of alcohol and drug abusers feel that, they too, are really in control of their addictions and that nobody will ever rape them and everyone, even soaked in chemicals, will behave like ladies and gentlemen at all times.
When I was in college, certainly binge drinking happened. I survived it, but not everyone I ever knew did. It may not "go away", but that doesn't mean that we should simply dismiss it in a "boys will be boys and girls will be girls, blame it on the stresses of society, I understand" way. The way to reverse this behavior is to tell the truth: a culture like this is precisely how campus rape happens. Upend this culture, and campus rape will decrease.
When I was in college, certainly binge drinking happened. I survived it, but not everyone I ever knew did. It may not "go away", but that doesn't mean that we should simply dismiss it in a "boys will be boys and girls will be girls, blame it on the stresses of society, I understand" way. The way to reverse this behavior is to tell the truth: a culture like this is precisely how campus rape happens. Upend this culture, and campus rape will decrease.
While I understand that drinking and partying have long been part of the college experience, as a retired mental health/addictions counselor and treatment program developer/manager, I also know that blackouts (which are periods of lost memory, not "mere" passing out) are part of addiction. There are better ways to rid oneself of the stress of college. Go running, do yoga, meditation, play intramural sports, whatever, but drink moderately or less. Don't take the chance of ruining your life through addiction (or being raped when passed out or worse).
3
Please understand, "pre-gaming" is very different than the drinking we 40- to 50-somethings may remember from our college days. Several years ago, I was shocked when a college freshman at a urban school described it to me as something "everyone" was doing, shortly before she experienced alcohol poisoning and was forced to take a year off to recover. This "pre-gaming" took place in dorm rooms, fueled by booze bought with fake ids, before hitting the "cool" bars - again with fake ids. So far, pretty similar to what I did in college. But the amounts of alcohol, consumed with incredible speed, were truly amazing. I wondered what the heck was going on with the bars, the liquor stores and the school itself that was allowing this to happen on a common basis, even on week nights. This certainly had nothing to do with having "nothing to do" - in fact, these students had world-class everything, often free, right outside their doorsteps.
As a person who once had a fake id, who once drank in dorm rooms and who went to college in a small town with seemingly "nothing to do," there is no comparison between the fun "buzz" we used to shoot for and the slobbering, often sick, state of stupidity that seems to be the goal today. Maybe it's stress, maybe it's fear of the future, or maybe it's just adolescents doing what they think is cool because no one is currently saying it's not. One thing is for certain: both parents and colleges need to be talking about "pre-gaming" in a big way.
As a person who once had a fake id, who once drank in dorm rooms and who went to college in a small town with seemingly "nothing to do," there is no comparison between the fun "buzz" we used to shoot for and the slobbering, often sick, state of stupidity that seems to be the goal today. Maybe it's stress, maybe it's fear of the future, or maybe it's just adolescents doing what they think is cool because no one is currently saying it's not. One thing is for certain: both parents and colleges need to be talking about "pre-gaming" in a big way.
4
Blackout "culture" seems like a convenient way for students to sort out the people they want to associate with: the superficial conformists who participate in this process, or the sensitive, contemplative people who enjoy intelligent discussion and the subtle beauties and real feelings that make life good. College age is a time for discoveries of all kinds, but I do not think that the blackout types are learning much of importance. The claims of stress relief that you seem to credit, Ashton, are fraudulent.
4
This is not solely about stress. There are thousands of uncompetitive college students and students at uncompetitive colleges, drinking to excess. For them, it's about immaturity, freedom from parental supervision, and a adult culture that supports and even encourages drinking.
5
Mainly, I find it sad that these students don't know how to drink properly -- i.e. how to have a cocktail before dinner without getting plastered; how to have wine with a meal; how to pace oneself with beer at an afternoon picnic. Silly as it sounds, these are actual life skills that they will need to develop before entering the world of business dinners and client lunches.
The whole dysfunctional culture of drinking described here sounds like the result of social isolation and concentrating equally inexperienced young people in one place. Better to lower the drinking age and let them do it in bars, at campus events with adults in attendance, and so forth.
The whole dysfunctional culture of drinking described here sounds like the result of social isolation and concentrating equally inexperienced young people in one place. Better to lower the drinking age and let them do it in bars, at campus events with adults in attendance, and so forth.
The rigorous resiliency and ability to march on past bodily damage of young people is impressive. Kids do stuff like this, if you notice at the extremes they can't go ski gracefully down a mountain, they have to jump out of the gondola to a precipice and free fall down over a cliff wearing a glider suit. Hangovers and rock outcroppings serve to put constraints on "extreme" activities. At least they are assigning interesting language to the debauchery. Cuff'n Chug is quite charming.
Drug abuse is classic behavior and it's the nature of the chemicals that changes, not the behavior. Unfortunately there is little "tuning in" gained when one turns on to blackout by booze, and substantial risk of dropping out, unintentionally rather than by considered wisdom.
Drug abuse is classic behavior and it's the nature of the chemicals that changes, not the behavior. Unfortunately there is little "tuning in" gained when one turns on to blackout by booze, and substantial risk of dropping out, unintentionally rather than by considered wisdom.
1
I think there's a double whammy happening. It's a more stressful world, yes. But also, it's a less stress-resilient cohort of college kids.
I graduated into 1983's high interest rate slump and I remember that stress. But I was a free range 70's kid, who knew how to fend for myself. And I was also a traditionally-raised baby w a stay home mom.
I think the grand experiment of placing massive numbers of babies in daycare at birth is now showing up in the way-more-stressed young adults we see today.
Early (birth till 2) one-on-one care-- empathy, security, and attachment-- is the foundation upon which inner stability and sense of self rests.
When blacking out is the goal, that means one's inner experience is not a pleasant, comfortable place to be. Thats very, very sad.
I graduated into 1983's high interest rate slump and I remember that stress. But I was a free range 70's kid, who knew how to fend for myself. And I was also a traditionally-raised baby w a stay home mom.
I think the grand experiment of placing massive numbers of babies in daycare at birth is now showing up in the way-more-stressed young adults we see today.
Early (birth till 2) one-on-one care-- empathy, security, and attachment-- is the foundation upon which inner stability and sense of self rests.
When blacking out is the goal, that means one's inner experience is not a pleasant, comfortable place to be. Thats very, very sad.
3
I agree about the resiliency but I'm not sure day care is the problem. Overscheduling and lack of free play as kids get older is.
As a recent college graduate of an Ivy League University, and a member of a social fraternity, I have plenty of experience with collegiate binge-drinking culture. That being said, I have neither seen nor heard of any of my peers start drinking with the specific intention of "blacking out". Blacking out has of course been an unintended consequence of those students who drink to excess in a given day; but to intentionally forget, just to find yourself piecing together your night the next day, is frankly ridiculous and dangerous.
4
Unhealthy attitudes toward alcohol go so much deeper - and start so much earlier - than the college years, and what about those who don't go to college? The issue is an all-or-nothing cultural attitude toward alcohol in the U.S., rather than a gradual phasing in of reasonable alcohol intake (a small glass of wine at dinner with your family, etc.) as is the norm in other countries, is what's really to blame. To presume this generation of college kids somehow has it harder than their predecessors, or non-collegegoing peers, is just ridiculous.
My time spent at a State university (aka party school) in the USA was quite different from my time studying in Europe.
Perhaps gradual introduction by American parents of appropriate alcohol use at home (e.g. wine with meals) would minimize students going crazy once they go off to college?
Perhaps gradual introduction by American parents of appropriate alcohol use at home (e.g. wine with meals) would minimize students going crazy once they go off to college?
1
As a parent of two high school juniors, I shudder when I hear my peers saying that drinking in high school is a good idea because then the kids will know how to handle it when they are in college. When kids start drinking in high school, they don't learn how to cope with the discomfort that some social situations bring, and they don't learn how to cope with the stresses of rigorous academic expectations, so how do we expect them to suddenly have these skills when they get to college? Stopping blackout drinking needs to start in high school, where parents and educators have more influence and kids start to deal with very stressful situations. These kids are under much more pressure than I was in the class of 1987, and I drank to excess in high school and beyond.
2
This regular, scheduled and socially pressured abusive excess seems dangerous, disgusting and frankly, not at all fun. This is not a condemnation of socially drinking or even getting drunk in college. Many of the commenters seem to make an equivalence between "getting drunk" and "blacking out." This seems at least disingenuous and at worse dangerous. I attended college and got drunk whenever I wanted to. 35 years later, I still occasionally tie one on to celebrate something or in a fit of enthusiasm with family or close friends. But this seems entirely different from drinking with the express goal of passing out.
It doesn't seem to me that these kids, at least a reported, are escaping any sort of hyper-pressurized reality but instead are imposing competition and external validation on what should be social fun. The health risks are alarming and the safety of these young adults seems very much at risk.
I blacked out once as a teenager and ended up running into the side of a moving car in the middle of the night. I woke up in such filled gutter in the middle of winter with police and ambulance light flashing around me. The result was the worse hangover/concussion of my life. I have told me kids that I was lucky: a few steps faster and I would have been hit by the front of the car and maybe killed or maimed for life.
I don't think this should be minimized and I don't find it amusing.
It doesn't seem to me that these kids, at least a reported, are escaping any sort of hyper-pressurized reality but instead are imposing competition and external validation on what should be social fun. The health risks are alarming and the safety of these young adults seems very much at risk.
I blacked out once as a teenager and ended up running into the side of a moving car in the middle of the night. I woke up in such filled gutter in the middle of winter with police and ambulance light flashing around me. The result was the worse hangover/concussion of my life. I have told me kids that I was lucky: a few steps faster and I would have been hit by the front of the car and maybe killed or maimed for life.
I don't think this should be minimized and I don't find it amusing.
4
When I was in college, lo these many years ago, there was only one problem drinker in my group of friends. He'd end up puking drunk and sometimes passed out, and we'd have to haul him into the back seat of the car. A few of us felt he was amusing, but mostly we felt sorry for him. But now his college-age grandchildren are probably following in his footsteps. Assuming he overcame alcoholism and survived long enough to have grandchildren.
I made my couple of attempts at binge drinking while I was still in high school. Right around my 21st birthday, I was holding a tall, half-empty can of beer (finally legal!) and not at all enjoying it. "Why am I forcing myself to drink this?" asked the voice in my head. I walked over to the kitchen sink and poured out the rest of the beer. That was my last beer. Since then I've had exactly one glass of wine and one single sip of wine at a Passover seder. I haven't missed alcohol in the least, since it never gave me any pleasurable sensations whatsoever. Same story for illegal, and now in some place legal, smokeable plants.
The medical profession has finally awakened to the fact that distilled alcohol is fully as dangerous as heroin. In my opinion, every bottle of liquor should have a black-box warning: Liquor is liver-toxic and highly addictive.
I made my couple of attempts at binge drinking while I was still in high school. Right around my 21st birthday, I was holding a tall, half-empty can of beer (finally legal!) and not at all enjoying it. "Why am I forcing myself to drink this?" asked the voice in my head. I walked over to the kitchen sink and poured out the rest of the beer. That was my last beer. Since then I've had exactly one glass of wine and one single sip of wine at a Passover seder. I haven't missed alcohol in the least, since it never gave me any pleasurable sensations whatsoever. Same story for illegal, and now in some place legal, smokeable plants.
The medical profession has finally awakened to the fact that distilled alcohol is fully as dangerous as heroin. In my opinion, every bottle of liquor should have a black-box warning: Liquor is liver-toxic and highly addictive.
1
Disgusting human behavior, despite the "stress" excuse. (Sorry to be so judgmental.)
Even in a small town, cannot one relieve stress in the gym (including social activities such as basketball, ping-pong, pickup soccer), at the pool, or by taking a nature walk or bike ride? These actually refresh one's mind, as opposed to the toxic blackout.
The only truth is that these students are looking for intimacy which they have no skill to communicate. So they get drunk to lessen social expectations and to act out their romantic attractions. Was the same when I was in college ~20 years ago, except one only had to get tipsy, not blacked out.
Even in a small town, cannot one relieve stress in the gym (including social activities such as basketball, ping-pong, pickup soccer), at the pool, or by taking a nature walk or bike ride? These actually refresh one's mind, as opposed to the toxic blackout.
The only truth is that these students are looking for intimacy which they have no skill to communicate. So they get drunk to lessen social expectations and to act out their romantic attractions. Was the same when I was in college ~20 years ago, except one only had to get tipsy, not blacked out.
2
Dear heavens, it is not only today's students who have abused drugs to the point of catatonia. And it's not only America's college students who do it. The Chinese were way ahead of the West on drug abuse, with opium addiction being the preferred salve for the gathering collapse of the Qin Dynasty. America's rural areas are today being consumed by meth and heroin abuse.
But I get it. Who cares about historical Chinese and the rural poor? It's rich, white college kids--the future leaders of our nation, omg!--who we should worry about it.
The wholesale abuse of recreational drugs among the well-off is a function of excess wealth with nowhere to go, reflective of the lives of pampered college students. It would go away if mommy and daddy would quit enabling it.
But I get it. Who cares about historical Chinese and the rural poor? It's rich, white college kids--the future leaders of our nation, omg!--who we should worry about it.
The wholesale abuse of recreational drugs among the well-off is a function of excess wealth with nowhere to go, reflective of the lives of pampered college students. It would go away if mommy and daddy would quit enabling it.
One important consequence the author omits. Most bad sexual encounters - to include rape, harassment, accidentally unprotected intercourse, and so on - happen when both concerned are blotto drunk.
Now.. this is where the feminists scream, "you are just blaming the victim!?" But the facts are the facts. The widely accepted habit of binge drinking is a major factor in sexual misadventures. Any academics who would like to really do something about sexual assaults and undesired pregnancy on campuses would do well to study the sociological basis for student drinking behaviors.
Note to potential researchers: European campuses neither have the epidemic of binge drinking nor the high rates of sexual misconduct we see throughout the U.S. Hint. There's your lab.
Now.. this is where the feminists scream, "you are just blaming the victim!?" But the facts are the facts. The widely accepted habit of binge drinking is a major factor in sexual misadventures. Any academics who would like to really do something about sexual assaults and undesired pregnancy on campuses would do well to study the sociological basis for student drinking behaviors.
Note to potential researchers: European campuses neither have the epidemic of binge drinking nor the high rates of sexual misconduct we see throughout the U.S. Hint. There's your lab.
The writer is a very young person so probably has limited knowledge about drinking in college in the past.
I was a physician on a college student mental health service back in the 1980s and drinking in college was a major problem back then and it was also a major problem even before then.
I wish it were only a current problem but that's not true.
And as to stress in being in college now, think about the stress facing students in college during the depression when they faced far worse employment prospect then now or during World War II or the Korean or Vietnam War where if you failed out you may very well find yourself getting shot at very shortly afterward. That's a lot more stress than students face together despite what the writer might think.
Fortunately, for most of the college students their heavy drinking is situational and they aren't alcoholics. Sadly, it's hard to tell at the time whether their heavy drinking is just temporary or is indicative of a life long problem; amount of alcohol imbibed isn't a sufficient predictor.
I was a physician on a college student mental health service back in the 1980s and drinking in college was a major problem back then and it was also a major problem even before then.
I wish it were only a current problem but that's not true.
And as to stress in being in college now, think about the stress facing students in college during the depression when they faced far worse employment prospect then now or during World War II or the Korean or Vietnam War where if you failed out you may very well find yourself getting shot at very shortly afterward. That's a lot more stress than students face together despite what the writer might think.
Fortunately, for most of the college students their heavy drinking is situational and they aren't alcoholics. Sadly, it's hard to tell at the time whether their heavy drinking is just temporary or is indicative of a life long problem; amount of alcohol imbibed isn't a sufficient predictor.
4
This is not new. I graduated from a small private college in a rural area decades ago. I think it would be fair to say that the economic outlook and social stresses were not worse then than they are now. Parts of this article correctly identify the connection between an isolated locale and alcohol abuse. Drinking contests. Drinking games. Drinking all night on weekends and sometimes on weekdays. Drinking and throwing up and drinking more. "Partying" in a basement with the smell of stale beer and vomit. It's unfortunate. I always thought the problem could have been corrected with more community involvement. College kids thrown together have little to do on their own because they're still kids.
2
Carl Jung's equation--spiritus contra spiritum, roughly translating as booze clashing with spiritual connection-- is as much the reason for alcohol overindulgence as stress; there is an existential hole in many of our lives that alcohol and/or other substances seems to fill, a terror of the human situation that is too much to bear....and which temporarily is resolved through chemically checking out. Jung, and many others who have wrestled with this through their own experience, see binging on drugs and alcohol as, in large measure, a misdirected spiritual search for meaning....and a way out (however momentary) of the pain of living.
What rarely is taught in college or elsewhere, except the school of hard knocks, is that the spiritual search is important--arguably it is what life is all about-- and it does have an end, hopefully before we die. The end of seeking oblivion through substances or through other means of trying to resolve the existential crisis of life can occur when we ask for help (from others, from the universe, from some power greater than our ego and id) and are grateful for what we have.
What rarely is taught in college or elsewhere, except the school of hard knocks, is that the spiritual search is important--arguably it is what life is all about-- and it does have an end, hopefully before we die. The end of seeking oblivion through substances or through other means of trying to resolve the existential crisis of life can occur when we ask for help (from others, from the universe, from some power greater than our ego and id) and are grateful for what we have.
1
The wider culture provides the context for these types of behaviors to 'make sense'. I agree with the comments that emphasize 1) that other industrialized countries with lower drinking ages do not sponsor such behavior and 2) alcohol habits developed in college can set the stage for problems down the line. Blacking out is especially symptomatic of alcoholism.
However, I do not think that chastising this generation as 'immature and irresponsible' and exhorting them to 'grow up' shows much intelligence.
American college students have been boozing hard forever. The thing to pay attention to, I believe, is the joylessness accompanying this drinking and attributing the behavior to the need to escape from anxiety.
The top reader's pick is part of this chastising trend and it is so incredibly passe. These kids are figuring things out for themselves and talking about their problems, and the oldest most rehashed response of the older generation is 'buck up, get over it, life is hard, etc.'.
In fact, there is something reassuring in the predictability of my peers , once young themselves, resorting to their own version of 'when I was your age...'. However, I don't think those engaging in this kind of condescension have any idea they are fitting this pattern.
Outrageous tuition, debt, and the disappearing middle class are a toxic mix for students. Add the climate crisis, the failure of previous generations to make things better, and being 18 and I might want to forget , too.
However, I do not think that chastising this generation as 'immature and irresponsible' and exhorting them to 'grow up' shows much intelligence.
American college students have been boozing hard forever. The thing to pay attention to, I believe, is the joylessness accompanying this drinking and attributing the behavior to the need to escape from anxiety.
The top reader's pick is part of this chastising trend and it is so incredibly passe. These kids are figuring things out for themselves and talking about their problems, and the oldest most rehashed response of the older generation is 'buck up, get over it, life is hard, etc.'.
In fact, there is something reassuring in the predictability of my peers , once young themselves, resorting to their own version of 'when I was your age...'. However, I don't think those engaging in this kind of condescension have any idea they are fitting this pattern.
Outrageous tuition, debt, and the disappearing middle class are a toxic mix for students. Add the climate crisis, the failure of previous generations to make things better, and being 18 and I might want to forget , too.
3
Binge/blackout drinking was going on in the 80s at huge public universities and had nothing to do with any pressure we were under. My kids currently go to a university near Boston and small liberal arts college in the middle of nowhere and report binge/blackout drinking in both places and on a large scale by good and very mediocre students, as well. My child is extremely competitive in college and doesn't drink at all. This is a countrywide issue the occurs among good and bad college-age students, and even among young people who work blue collar jobs following high school.
In this country, unfortunately, lies an unhealthy culture of bings/blackout drinking, which is unrelated to the realistic competition that drives some college students to work hard and succeed in college and ultimately in real life. Let's not make excuses.
In this country, unfortunately, lies an unhealthy culture of bings/blackout drinking, which is unrelated to the realistic competition that drives some college students to work hard and succeed in college and ultimately in real life. Let's not make excuses.
2
Years ago a friend of mine was in Japan and somehow ended up drinking with a bunch of younger salarymen after work. Apart from the games, his experience was a lot like what is described in this piece: a bunch of young adults drinking as much as they can as fast as they can to obtain blessed oblivion. The commonality is stress. I am greatly encouraged to see several posters suggesting that lowering the drinking age might encourage more responsible use of alcohol. As with the foolish and failed war on drugs, neither repression nor punishment are going to work. As long as we condone the use of mind altering substances, and they show no sign of going away, education in their "proper" use is going to be a better answer to preventing excess, than any sort of prohibition, including one which is idiotically lifted all at once at an arbitrary age.
1
I am sure there is an intersection somewhere composed of excellent colleges, excellent faculty, excellent students, excellent learning, and excellent education. But, it is a small set in a complex, intersecting Venn diagram.
I.e., much of what occurs on American campuses is other than what I identify above. Too much of it is not education, not learning, not excellent. Too much of it is the untalented and the unaccomplished teaching the utterly disinterested in an environment led and managed by the unprincipled and unknowing. Too much of it is endless stroking of nascent narcissism, and celebration of every point of view regardless of its merit and validity.
For example, no English department tells its students: do this only if you are independently wealthy, because you will never pay off your loans. There is no ad now, and never was, which said: "wanted, English majors who are in touch with their feelings." No English professor tells her/his students" "Girls is a TV show, the likelihood of you writing a bestseller is near zero."
Drinking and anxiety are likely linked. But I could make the case that a lousy product (college education) is causing drinking in its own right. And this is when they are in college. Imagine the drinking when they hit the real world and find out that someone perpetrated a total fraud, took their money, and sucked up four years of their lives.
Shine on, you crazy diamonds.
Kalidan
I.e., much of what occurs on American campuses is other than what I identify above. Too much of it is not education, not learning, not excellent. Too much of it is the untalented and the unaccomplished teaching the utterly disinterested in an environment led and managed by the unprincipled and unknowing. Too much of it is endless stroking of nascent narcissism, and celebration of every point of view regardless of its merit and validity.
For example, no English department tells its students: do this only if you are independently wealthy, because you will never pay off your loans. There is no ad now, and never was, which said: "wanted, English majors who are in touch with their feelings." No English professor tells her/his students" "Girls is a TV show, the likelihood of you writing a bestseller is near zero."
Drinking and anxiety are likely linked. But I could make the case that a lousy product (college education) is causing drinking in its own right. And this is when they are in college. Imagine the drinking when they hit the real world and find out that someone perpetrated a total fraud, took their money, and sucked up four years of their lives.
Shine on, you crazy diamonds.
Kalidan
How sad if the stress is bad as the writer says. College should be an amazing time of challenge and discovery, not debilitating stress. But I'm not naive. Back in my college days, we were not that stressed but blackout drinking did happen. It was a way of avoiding responsibility, as the author points out (this was in the late eighties) and a way of proving how cool you were, and scoring points with your peers. None of that will change if we eliminate stress. And for those who think we should look to the European model, where alcohol is allowed a younger age and parents "teach" their children how to drink responsibility. Forget about it. I live in Europe, quite by chance in the party district of the a certain city so I get to see every weekend how young people from all over Europe get smashed, vomit, and pass out in our neighborhood. Is there a solution to this pervasive drinking culture? I have no idea, but I do hope my own children will always drink in moderation after a childhood of jumping over pools of vomit on the street.
2
I see it a bit more simply. Yes there are people coping with stress blacking out, but by and large it's the drinking game and no consequences feeling in college. I had blacked out many of times, and most of the time it's because I wanted to have more and more fun and thought the extra beer or should would provide that.
I think the real reason for many blackouts is social awkwardness and trying to entertain friends. If you're going to a huge party with a lot of people, you keep drinking to make it fun. You also do stupid stuff to entertain friends, just look at Barstool Sports' Instagram where dudes drink beer off each other's body parts.
The answer as another commenter noted is reasonable moderation. Both reducing the drinking age and having it monitored by parents from an earlier age, like they do in France and Germany, at the dinner table. If the recommendation from adults is to never have more than two drinks at a time, well that's unrealistic in the college setting. There needs to be an honest conversation about how to have fun and yes get tipsy but stay far away from a blackout.
When I was a student I felt guilty the day after blacking out. I actually tried to find some research in the subject to see if there was brain damage, but couldn't find much. There were limited articles about it, so I actually think articles like this need to come out every week so that people beyond students are actually talking about it more.
I think the real reason for many blackouts is social awkwardness and trying to entertain friends. If you're going to a huge party with a lot of people, you keep drinking to make it fun. You also do stupid stuff to entertain friends, just look at Barstool Sports' Instagram where dudes drink beer off each other's body parts.
The answer as another commenter noted is reasonable moderation. Both reducing the drinking age and having it monitored by parents from an earlier age, like they do in France and Germany, at the dinner table. If the recommendation from adults is to never have more than two drinks at a time, well that's unrealistic in the college setting. There needs to be an honest conversation about how to have fun and yes get tipsy but stay far away from a blackout.
When I was a student I felt guilty the day after blacking out. I actually tried to find some research in the subject to see if there was brain damage, but couldn't find much. There were limited articles about it, so I actually think articles like this need to come out every week so that people beyond students are actually talking about it more.
1
This editorial basically sees a problem (binge drinking on campus) then creates a phony justification as to why it is happening based on a modicum of anecdotal evidence from a few people at a liberal arts college. Yes, there is binge drinking in college. I just do not think that we can claim that cause is emotional stress (or at least not exclusively). Most people get trashed because they want to have a good time. The losers and the winners, the C students and the A students, the people in college and those with no interest in it all party in roughly the same way. I could, with equally flimsy anecdotal evidence, claim that the real reason A students drink in college so heavily is so that they can steel themselves to corporate happy hours... or that they need to party now because they won't be able to "rage face" later. I could claim dozens and dozens of things and each of them would, perhaps, be valid for a small group of people. I can tell you that my college (heavy) drinking was not an expression of economic anxiety (I couldn't give a toss about it at the time). No, I was just a hedonist who believed that this was the best way to live life at age 19 and 20.
3
"Many small, elite colleges are insanely competitive to get into in the first place and they remain competitive as students try to outdo one another with grades, scholarships, extracurricular activities and internships."
The robotic joylessness of these activities - curricular and extracurricular - hints at a serious problem with millennials. The "zombies" that are such a big part of their media culture are actually themselves.
Stress? This generation has endured less actual stress than any other in human history. You would think that learning something - anything - in college would give them a sense of history and proportion.
I fear for the time in the future when one of these "kids" is flying my airplane.
The robotic joylessness of these activities - curricular and extracurricular - hints at a serious problem with millennials. The "zombies" that are such a big part of their media culture are actually themselves.
Stress? This generation has endured less actual stress than any other in human history. You would think that learning something - anything - in college would give them a sense of history and proportion.
I fear for the time in the future when one of these "kids" is flying my airplane.
2
That's not why they drink. Academic pressures are almost nonexistent at almost every American university, and students don't worry about job prospects until a few months before graduation (perhaps they should, but if they did there would be many fewer ethnic and womens' studies majors; in fact, many fewer majors in all the humanities and social sciences).
They drink because
1. Some people find intoxication pleasurable
2. Alcohol is an addictive drug and they are addicted
3. Alcohol is the traditional, and very effective, date rape drug
They drink because
1. Some people find intoxication pleasurable
2. Alcohol is an addictive drug and they are addicted
3. Alcohol is the traditional, and very effective, date rape drug
2
I think it is somewhat misleading and inconsistent to run so many articles and editorials on campus sexual assault and barely mentioning it in context with this article.
I am convinced that 95% of sexual assaults occur under these conditions described in the article. Both males and females lose their inhibitions, both males and females do things and with people that they would never do or be with sober. Responsibilities and ethics and morality and the morning after shame and regrets are muddled together in a massive fog of drunken stupor. Signals are given and understood or misunderstood and therein lies the real problem. Is there any way to prevent those serious and sad consequences? No, but my advice to both guys and girls. Find yourself and designate him/her as your sober wingman for the night. Let them step in when you cannot.
I am convinced that 95% of sexual assaults occur under these conditions described in the article. Both males and females lose their inhibitions, both males and females do things and with people that they would never do or be with sober. Responsibilities and ethics and morality and the morning after shame and regrets are muddled together in a massive fog of drunken stupor. Signals are given and understood or misunderstood and therein lies the real problem. Is there any way to prevent those serious and sad consequences? No, but my advice to both guys and girls. Find yourself and designate him/her as your sober wingman for the night. Let them step in when you cannot.
"I think it’s the stress. It permeates everything we do as college students. Many small, elite colleges are insanely competitive to get into in the first place and they remain competitive as students try to outdo one another with grades, scholarships, extracurricular activities and internships. Having been one of those hypercompetitive students, I can tell you that it never feels like enough....I became obsessed with stacking my resume, ...The obsession seems largely driven by fear—fear of a crumbling job market, of not meeting parents’ expectations, of crippling loan debt."
It's not strictly the stress. It's a symptom of the larger culture. This generation grew up going through school being scheduled and told what to do by others from morning to night. These kids are the first really screen-saturated generation. Entertainment is about *consuming*--watching TV, watching others do sports, playing video games, social media, shopping. They never had to be alone with their thoughts. There is no model for creating deep relationships on campus with others (as others are competitors) or with the subject matter.
College is about getting a diploma & creating a resume. In class, students just want to know if "it's going to be on the exam." Creating a life not strictly focused around the race to consume starts in childhood; and kids grow up starved for meaningful social interaction but only able to look to others to be fed their entertainment. The "blackout" is what's being modeled.
It's not strictly the stress. It's a symptom of the larger culture. This generation grew up going through school being scheduled and told what to do by others from morning to night. These kids are the first really screen-saturated generation. Entertainment is about *consuming*--watching TV, watching others do sports, playing video games, social media, shopping. They never had to be alone with their thoughts. There is no model for creating deep relationships on campus with others (as others are competitors) or with the subject matter.
College is about getting a diploma & creating a resume. In class, students just want to know if "it's going to be on the exam." Creating a life not strictly focused around the race to consume starts in childhood; and kids grow up starved for meaningful social interaction but only able to look to others to be fed their entertainment. The "blackout" is what's being modeled.
3
the problem is that college is not for everyone and we have developed an educational culture where everyone is expected to go, and worse has to go because K-12 education has become virtually worthless. so now we have a situation where these people who are either not ready at a given time or should never be in college are there and the stress is too much for them so they binge drink. those who are ready should be able to handel the transition to college in stride without having to get blackout drunk on the weekends to cope with the stress. so now we have colleges with safe zones and trip words to accommodate students who should be in trade schools or apprentice programs.
2
So many middle class parents send their teenagers all kinds of subtle and not so subtle messages that drinking to excess is expected and encouraged during adolescence as that is what every "successful" adult did when they were young, even though this is not true. They teach their kids that flouting rules created by uptight people is a badge of entrepreneurial honor and a sign of spiritedness. The thinking of parents who are desperate for their kids to win the popularity contest of life is that a successful alpha run in the frat or sorority leads to all those business contacts after graduation and good marriage prospects. They don't realize how lucky they are their kids don't end up perpetrators of crime or victims of a serious accident.
1
Stress has always been part of college life, especially at highly competitive colleges, such as Colby, where I went in the 1980s. But peer pressure is the prime culprit. Fraternities--basically large groups of unsupervised young males on the make--have always been hotspots for such behavior. The pressure to join, fit in, and stay in, create a peer-pressure vortex, both inside and outside the fraternities and sororities.
Colby was one of several colleges to banish fraternities in the 80s; while campus life suddenly became more pleasant for everyone else, the behaviors persisted. It takes a certain self-confidence to resist: in those Studio 54 days, my roommates did coke on the weekends. Occasionally, they'd invite me to do a line--I just rolled my eyes and ignored them. But I was also lucky in another respect: I simply hated the taste of alcohol. Weekends were often lonely, though.
Unfortunately, peer pressure is a gauntlet that starts early, which is why many schools, including public schools, have uniforms. The question is, what else can we do to raise children with a strong sense of self, who are able to resist the incredible pressure to fit in? The question is how the modern college can be more involved in its social scene without being intrusive.
Colby was one of several colleges to banish fraternities in the 80s; while campus life suddenly became more pleasant for everyone else, the behaviors persisted. It takes a certain self-confidence to resist: in those Studio 54 days, my roommates did coke on the weekends. Occasionally, they'd invite me to do a line--I just rolled my eyes and ignored them. But I was also lucky in another respect: I simply hated the taste of alcohol. Weekends were often lonely, though.
Unfortunately, peer pressure is a gauntlet that starts early, which is why many schools, including public schools, have uniforms. The question is, what else can we do to raise children with a strong sense of self, who are able to resist the incredible pressure to fit in? The question is how the modern college can be more involved in its social scene without being intrusive.
1
The one portion of the stress equation that I can imagine causes a great deal of stress is the outrageous cost of college today, nearly double of 20 years ago. Saddling students--or their parents--with $250K+ of tuition and fees would be very stress-inducing, especially considering that incomes have not kept pace.
That said, and now more than 15 years sober myself, I experienced a very similar attitude towards alcohol when I attended a similar "little Ivy" in the 1990's. Simply put, many college students drink a shocking amount. What we used to call "getting hammered" to the point of blacking out is now apparently just called "blacking out" (Saying "I'm going to go black out," as if the black out itself is the ultimate goal, seems very strange).
But comparing suicide rates to the 1950's and anxiety #'s to nothing proves zero. We were anxious about tests and future jobs in the 90's. We drank because that was part of the whole experience (and, as it turns out, because I am an alcoholic); blacking out came with the territory.
Second, not everyone drinks! I'd suggest that the author check out the library or other school events on a Saturday night. The folks at the parties are NOT a good group to sample from--and, I would posit, likely candidates for future alcohol abuse.
Finally, as others have pointed out, the effects of blacking out are such that they limit your capacity to compete, and thus fully discount the claim that it's the "competition" that forces one to drink.
That said, and now more than 15 years sober myself, I experienced a very similar attitude towards alcohol when I attended a similar "little Ivy" in the 1990's. Simply put, many college students drink a shocking amount. What we used to call "getting hammered" to the point of blacking out is now apparently just called "blacking out" (Saying "I'm going to go black out," as if the black out itself is the ultimate goal, seems very strange).
But comparing suicide rates to the 1950's and anxiety #'s to nothing proves zero. We were anxious about tests and future jobs in the 90's. We drank because that was part of the whole experience (and, as it turns out, because I am an alcoholic); blacking out came with the territory.
Second, not everyone drinks! I'd suggest that the author check out the library or other school events on a Saturday night. The folks at the parties are NOT a good group to sample from--and, I would posit, likely candidates for future alcohol abuse.
Finally, as others have pointed out, the effects of blacking out are such that they limit your capacity to compete, and thus fully discount the claim that it's the "competition" that forces one to drink.
1
There's nothing new about this. I graduated from an urban state university (not at all selective at the time; all it took was an in-state HS degree to get in) 30 years ago and it was the same story. Pregaming, drinking games, the intention to get as drunk as possible, blackouts, sexual assault or at the very least unwanted sexual advances, etc. etc. It happened whether or not we were stressed, whether or not we drank in bars (as soon as we were 21), fraternity houses, dorms, campus apartments, etc. It happened when we were living within a vibrant busy city with an enormous variety of non-drinking things to do. It happened whether or not the university tried to stop it. Most importantly, it happened even though the 1980s job market for college grads was very easy to enter. Most of my friends had several job offers to pick from right out of school.
Most of my friends escaped this situation with only some shame-filled memories and a general sense that we all had a lot of "fun." I turned into a full-blown alcoholic in a few years and drank for almost 20 more until I got sober.
Resist simple explanations of addiction and substance abuse.
Most of my friends escaped this situation with only some shame-filled memories and a general sense that we all had a lot of "fun." I turned into a full-blown alcoholic in a few years and drank for almost 20 more until I got sober.
Resist simple explanations of addiction and substance abuse.
7
A parallel to this was the military when I was in 1971-1975. Boredom. The Naval Radio Stattion I was at was so boring that the Navy classified it as sea duty for rotational purposes.
In my first six months blackout drinking became a way to pass the time away. On Friday I would go to the Navy Exchange and pick up three quarts of VO and three six packs of Seven-UP. I filled the cooler up at the galley and buzzed along every weekend and then went to the enlisted Men's Club to get hammered. That continued until one night that I overdid it to a level I never had before. It was the day before payday and drinks were half price so I drank doubles. I woke up hours later lying face down on the rest room floor. My rescuers were considerate. I might have drowned on my vomit if I was on my back.
I looked at my surroundings especially the toilet bowl and saw a metaphor for my life. I then decided I needed to do something more productive than be drunk every night. I started running again and working on my professional requirements. Today it takes e three years to drink one bottle of Crown Royal. I tell friends I am drinking less but drinking better.
In my first six months blackout drinking became a way to pass the time away. On Friday I would go to the Navy Exchange and pick up three quarts of VO and three six packs of Seven-UP. I filled the cooler up at the galley and buzzed along every weekend and then went to the enlisted Men's Club to get hammered. That continued until one night that I overdid it to a level I never had before. It was the day before payday and drinks were half price so I drank doubles. I woke up hours later lying face down on the rest room floor. My rescuers were considerate. I might have drowned on my vomit if I was on my back.
I looked at my surroundings especially the toilet bowl and saw a metaphor for my life. I then decided I needed to do something more productive than be drunk every night. I started running again and working on my professional requirements. Today it takes e three years to drink one bottle of Crown Royal. I tell friends I am drinking less but drinking better.
Excuses for why college students drink to blackout have been put forth for years. From 'if the drinking age were 18 and we introduced alcohol to family situations like the Europeans' to the excuses put forth by this writer. College students desire to get trashed is culturally embedded, supported by the media (Animal House to every college frat movie), enabled by college administrations ('college is a place of exploration'), and permitted by law enforcement. Pre-loading before sports events or parties where there are limits on alcohol are de rigueur. Malia Obama is caught drinking and smoking dope and the response from the press and public is 'let teenagers be teenagers'. There is not even a peep from the President that would suggest the behavior of his daughter is wrong. We can imagine the impact when the President gives permission to hit it up on college campuses. In the end, these kids suffer by creating a permissive environment that leads to alcohol and drugs as crutches, hardly the lesson that we are paying $60K/year in tuition for.
I didn't drink much in college - a small liberal arts college without frats or sororites, in a small town. Some of my friends drank, but not with these kinds of rules and competitions. Generally no one thought it was cool when the hardcore drinkers lost control or blacked out. Mostly people thought it was lame. Then I went to an Ivy League law school - and saw the drinking culture outlined here in full effect. There is something deeply dysfunctional about these mostly white, mostly privileged, hyper competitive, highly structured communities in which male sexual violence is normalized. It is not a generalized problem, actually. It happens primarily in certain communities. Let's start addressing that.
"I think it’s the stress. It permeates everything we do as college students. Many small, elite colleges are insanely competitive to get into in the first place and they remain competitive as students try to outdo one another with grades, scholarships, extracurricular activities and internships."
With all due respect Ashton, Centre College can hardly be called "insanely competitive to get into", with an acceptance rate of 71%. If anything, a school so easy to get into could allow for selection--favoring some students with little direction and motivation. As someone who has also been through the transfer process, I think the more accurate story here (which you touched upon) is the lack of an appropriate outlet--small colleges tend to exist in small communities that don't have the infrastructure to support the cultural and social needs of a large college population.
With all due respect Ashton, Centre College can hardly be called "insanely competitive to get into", with an acceptance rate of 71%. If anything, a school so easy to get into could allow for selection--favoring some students with little direction and motivation. As someone who has also been through the transfer process, I think the more accurate story here (which you touched upon) is the lack of an appropriate outlet--small colleges tend to exist in small communities that don't have the infrastructure to support the cultural and social needs of a large college population.
1
Drinking to excess or behaving ritualistically (e.g. Food/bulimia, cutting, promiscuity) or using substances in any addictive way are a way to "tap down" the feeling of resentment, irritability and dissatisfaction that bounces around endlessly in the heads of evolving and "full blown" addicts. It is the problematic thinking -- not the substances or behaviors -- that is the real issue that the "on-deck" addict and addict must address.
From what I have seen, the substance abusor sees the world through a well developed expectation and filter that their family, community, teachers, friends, owe them the life they want. Avoiding life's standard "fears" keep the addict from maturing as individuals. The substance abuser evolves ionto a thinking that those around them are there as a proxy to carry the ball on their behalf. This approach to life contributes to failed realationships and the feelings of anger & resentment. Substances and problem behaviors are then used to manage those ill feelings and the whirlpool of addiction continues for these individual.
From what I have seen, dealing with this thinking is the only way "recover". Only the abuser can make this a priority and only the abuser clean up the mess.
From what I have seen, the substance abusor sees the world through a well developed expectation and filter that their family, community, teachers, friends, owe them the life they want. Avoiding life's standard "fears" keep the addict from maturing as individuals. The substance abuser evolves ionto a thinking that those around them are there as a proxy to carry the ball on their behalf. This approach to life contributes to failed realationships and the feelings of anger & resentment. Substances and problem behaviors are then used to manage those ill feelings and the whirlpool of addiction continues for these individual.
From what I have seen, dealing with this thinking is the only way "recover". Only the abuser can make this a priority and only the abuser clean up the mess.
3
I simply do not buy this guy's argument. I have kids at high pressure universities as well as nieces and nephews. Not one of them behaves like this. Not one. And no, I am not living in a fantasy world. And when I went to college in the 1980s - we had plenty of students like the ones he is describing. I agree that students are more depressed and I agree that school is more of a pressure cooker than when I was a student. But students are also a good deal less reflective, less resilient and frankly, seem to possess little depth -- their world is held together by social media and hand held devices. Also the Internet paints everything very negatively and that is where they get their news. [Hence young people see Trump and Clinton as equally poor choices - they see little difference between the candidates.] When I was in school we talked about ideas and most of our education took place in dorm rooms at 2 a.m. - was much of it naive and probably silly - sure. But we took the world and our role in it seriously. To be honest I think there is an emptiness to their lives. They have spent too much time plugged in and surrounded by their peers and not enough enough time interacting with larger populations. It goes back to Viktor Frankl. Where there is no meaning there is no hope. I suggest that this young person - unplug, read a little philosophy (or theology if that is more your thing), take up drawing, go to a museum or help out at an after school program.
3
I think Ms. Carrick has a good grasp on the stresses and pressures college students face. Binge drinking, or self medicating as we call it in my profession, is a natural outgrowth of the pressure-cooker environment that we're putting our kids under, starting from earlier and earlier ages. Rather than wringing our hands and running an annual story on how awful the situation is, perhaps it is time to teach harm reduction and moderation. Lose The Booze, the book and ideas behind it, is deceptively simple: figure out if you are getting in your own way with your drinking and then take steps to lessen your need to self medicate. We are not offering college students choices that prime them for long-term success if we ignore the signs and symptoms of stress and depression, while exporting them to avoid self medicating. Harm reduction allows some students to see they need to take one fewer class, accept a B, avoid alcohol, or more likely, avoid parties on frat row where moderation is not modeled. These students are no worse, as people than my generation, but their self medicating coping mechanisms need to be heard as the message of 'tilt' overwhelm that they are - not as some random desire for permission to self destruct. We can help students achieve their goals and have moderate party habits going forward in their lives. We will need to give up the all-or-nothing messaging.
1
When I was in college several decades ago I knew several things clearly: going to college was an expensive privilege, for which my parents and I were paying jointly; every minute of every day was an opportunity I could not let pass by to learn something; and I was an outsider--migrant and poor--to the world I was living in.
Many of the kids I went to school with at Georgetown drank. My fish an year roommate passed out every evening intoxicated, sometimes after puking.
My days revolved around going to class starting at 8 am every morning (intensive Russian), reading and finishing homework, and then putting in another 4 hour in the evening toward my work study employment, so I could afford to live in Washington.
On the weekend I sometimes went to parties, but I was generally more interested in making extra money to pay off debts and working with NARAL and Amnesty International.
I had no expectations of great employment, I had the stress of a huge debt, but what kept me up at night were the social injustices around me and the world.
I don't think this is a special story. I think we have coddled younger generations whose expectations far outpace the reality around them, and who take for granted every opportunity that comes their way as a given right.
Drinking is a choice. Always. Costly.
Many of the kids I went to school with at Georgetown drank. My fish an year roommate passed out every evening intoxicated, sometimes after puking.
My days revolved around going to class starting at 8 am every morning (intensive Russian), reading and finishing homework, and then putting in another 4 hour in the evening toward my work study employment, so I could afford to live in Washington.
On the weekend I sometimes went to parties, but I was generally more interested in making extra money to pay off debts and working with NARAL and Amnesty International.
I had no expectations of great employment, I had the stress of a huge debt, but what kept me up at night were the social injustices around me and the world.
I don't think this is a special story. I think we have coddled younger generations whose expectations far outpace the reality around them, and who take for granted every opportunity that comes their way as a given right.
Drinking is a choice. Always. Costly.
2
Am I the only one who thinks that this behaviour is stupid, dangerous and can cause long-term health complications? Not everyone engages in reckless binge drinking. There are many students who spend weekends studying, volunteering, practicing an instrument, visiting friends at other schools, exploring the city or the more pastoral area where their school is located. There are so many ways to fill the day. The article makes it seem that binge drinking is not optional and that the smart, competitive students are indulging. I beg to differ on both accounts. I know too many students of character, great intelligence and social intelligence who would find this behavior to be repugnant.
2
This article glosses over the dangers of drinking to blackout, especially to women, who tend to do this unintentionally. While college campuses strive to educate their students about informed alcohol use, I am frequently confronted in my substance abuse treatment practice with women who are unaware that they, as a gender, are at higher risk due in part to a lesser physiological capacity to break down alcohol. I often tell women to skip the hard liquor, as this is more frequently associated with black or brownouts.
College is a time of life when most young adults are navigating a host of new sometimes stressful experiences particularly around unfettered access to alcohol and other drugs. These substances have a learning curve.
Coming from a harm reduction perspective, I encourage women particularly to drink a glass of water in between drinks, make sure they eat before, during, and after drinking, and stand up and walk around every hour just to make sure their legs work. Pocket breathalyzers are a handy tool as well, as long as they are used properly and not for sport.
College is a time of life when most young adults are navigating a host of new sometimes stressful experiences particularly around unfettered access to alcohol and other drugs. These substances have a learning curve.
Coming from a harm reduction perspective, I encourage women particularly to drink a glass of water in between drinks, make sure they eat before, during, and after drinking, and stand up and walk around every hour just to make sure their legs work. Pocket breathalyzers are a handy tool as well, as long as they are used properly and not for sport.
1
I attended a small private college in the early 90s and we drank in a very similar manner then. Always on campus, making up games and funny drinks and walking to the ever-changing next venue. (In fact my experience was so similar that the first few paragraphs made me seriously nostalgic.) We were absolutely not motivated by pressure or fear. We did it because it was fun! Most of us took low-level jobs that didn't even require a degree immediately after graduation, though everyone I'm still in touch with has since moved to more serious pursuits - and most of us would be considered very successful. Everyone's health is fine, too. On the too-rare occasions we get together now, we still act like we did in college, though we can now afford much better booze.
Heavy college drinking is definitely not a one-way ticket to perdition. Most of what I remember was actually pretty damn great.
Heavy college drinking is definitely not a one-way ticket to perdition. Most of what I remember was actually pretty damn great.
1
Judgmentally speaking, I don't see why the students would be afraid to be judgmental in this regard, as most of them are judgmental in most every other area, and, in this case, it could be a traumatic life changer not only with sexual assault cases, but in rampant embarrassing videos.
I think making the issue a competitive student link could be a copout, though I agree there is overwhelming stress in the average young person's life. There are many better stress relievers, including the safest, easiest and least expensive, euphemistically known as independent sexual release.
Students who are both smart and competitive should be capable of mostly avoiding self-destructive behavior, knowing its natural consequences. This extreme drinking behavior seems like a simple and continuing case of peer pressure and only conscientious and caring peers can really help to decrease it. Let's hope more young people will be strong enough to step up to that plate.
I think making the issue a competitive student link could be a copout, though I agree there is overwhelming stress in the average young person's life. There are many better stress relievers, including the safest, easiest and least expensive, euphemistically known as independent sexual release.
Students who are both smart and competitive should be capable of mostly avoiding self-destructive behavior, knowing its natural consequences. This extreme drinking behavior seems like a simple and continuing case of peer pressure and only conscientious and caring peers can really help to decrease it. Let's hope more young people will be strong enough to step up to that plate.
As a long-term college professor, I would return this essay to a student noting that there are numerous unsupported generalizations. There are grains of truth in this piece, but as I tell my students, you may offer any opinion you like, but you must support it with facts.
Many of the commenters are missing some of the assumptions and contradictions in this opinion piece. Some, for example, discuss college students as if they are children, but they are quite willing to accept this writer's opinions -- and limited perspective -- as Truth. Other commenters seem to think that universities can stop binge drinking, ignoring the fact that our culture has embraced the concept of delayed adolescence and the resulting reduced responsibilities that accrue to an extended childhood. Many commenters seem to assume college has become more difficult and rigorous over the past few years (it hasn't), and therefore believe that students today must deal with more stress. Still others fail to realize that the world has always been in turmoil, and that going to college in an era of assassinations, undeclared foreign wars and a shaky economy is nothing new. Finally, I have not seen a comment mentioning that the goal of higher education has changed from the pursuit of knowledge to the pursuit of the post-graduation dollar, leading students to stress out over grades rather than to enjoy the idea that they are attempting to becoming learned, productive citizens, regardless of the financial payoff.
Many of the commenters are missing some of the assumptions and contradictions in this opinion piece. Some, for example, discuss college students as if they are children, but they are quite willing to accept this writer's opinions -- and limited perspective -- as Truth. Other commenters seem to think that universities can stop binge drinking, ignoring the fact that our culture has embraced the concept of delayed adolescence and the resulting reduced responsibilities that accrue to an extended childhood. Many commenters seem to assume college has become more difficult and rigorous over the past few years (it hasn't), and therefore believe that students today must deal with more stress. Still others fail to realize that the world has always been in turmoil, and that going to college in an era of assassinations, undeclared foreign wars and a shaky economy is nothing new. Finally, I have not seen a comment mentioning that the goal of higher education has changed from the pursuit of knowledge to the pursuit of the post-graduation dollar, leading students to stress out over grades rather than to enjoy the idea that they are attempting to becoming learned, productive citizens, regardless of the financial payoff.
11
To spend so much time poisoning yourself in a dark room with dull company is such a waste. I think moderate and responsible drinking is healthy and fun . Becoming familiar with a wine list or a beer list and/or drinking regional liquors in good company, romantic company and beautiful locations can be part of a long life well lived. This is something very different. It is physically and emotionally risky, wastes time that should be spent taking advantage of the fine minds and facilities at one's university, reading, exercising, socializing ,making lifelong friends, philosophizing, working, discovering the world and maybe even falling in love. Those are some things people used to do at university and I trust many still do so. The excuses offered-so much pressure-are insufficient to promote this level of self destruction. We are not raising our children well if everyone sees this and looks the other way. I did not want in loco parentis when I was 18-more than 45 years ago admittedly. But someone needs to take some responsibility for this atmosphere and the enabling of a pathological culture. There is increasing public dialogue-a good sign I trust.
3
While competition for employment coming out of school may be very high in terms of recent history in America, throughout most of civilization's history this kind of competition tended to be much, much more fierce. It is certainly more fierce for immigrants coming to this country without assets or even speaking English, yet they usually somehow avoid getting trapped in patterns of destructive behavior.
I have to believe that there are things in play here that have nothing to do with the relative competition and difficulties facing young students- Maybe it is partially a cultural pathology of excessive expectations with self esteem artificially based on a zero sum game where the other students success represents your own failure.
If one has a roof over their head and food in their belly, they should think of themselves as ahead of the game. From their, try to make the best strategical decisions life provides you and don't let unmet expectations and issues out of your control distract you from the task of focusing on the next decision. When decisions don't work out learn from it- don't blame yourself.
And then, at the end of the day, if you can afford it, enjoy a nice glass of ale or wine.
I have to believe that there are things in play here that have nothing to do with the relative competition and difficulties facing young students- Maybe it is partially a cultural pathology of excessive expectations with self esteem artificially based on a zero sum game where the other students success represents your own failure.
If one has a roof over their head and food in their belly, they should think of themselves as ahead of the game. From their, try to make the best strategical decisions life provides you and don't let unmet expectations and issues out of your control distract you from the task of focusing on the next decision. When decisions don't work out learn from it- don't blame yourself.
And then, at the end of the day, if you can afford it, enjoy a nice glass of ale or wine.
6
The behavior described here is no different than what I experienced at a public university 25 years ago. So I don't think that any recent competitive pressures are driving this. Instead it happens because it is an accompaniment to many fun social activities and face it: drinking makes fun stuff funner! Unfortunately, drinking to excess is tacitly accepted by society and it's easy to cross the line from having fun to stupidly drunk. As other commenters have pointed out the puritanism and restrictive drinking laws drive this activity underground (apartment and frat parties) and there is no oversight on the partying in the form of bartenders, bouncers, or police -- as there is for adults who might go to a bar, summer festival, or even a friend's house. Many freshman that showed up at my school had virtually zero drinking experience in high school and they didn't have a clue about what constituted too much. the message from my university when we showed up in the "Just Say No" years was "no underage drinking!". It should have been "We know some of you may choose to drink -- here's how to do it safely."
An interesting - if not completely convincing - article. I went to undergrad and grad school at two large universities in the late 80's and early 90's. I partied hard, just like all of my classmates, three or four times a week. However, I don't recall seeing that many people passed out (sure it happened on occasion). I also can't recall anyone ever saying that they were so drunk that they blacked out.
In any case, I don't think one person's experience can be generalized to the entire student body of the US. The author keeps using the pronoun "we" and references studies from the 50's. All in all, I think the story is an honest account of the author's experiences but the readers should be wary of assuming that all college students are in a similar situation.
In any case, I don't think one person's experience can be generalized to the entire student body of the US. The author keeps using the pronoun "we" and references studies from the 50's. All in all, I think the story is an honest account of the author's experiences but the readers should be wary of assuming that all college students are in a similar situation.
1
I live in a college town, and have taught, worked with and lived among college students for the past 20 years. My primary observation about college students and blackout culture is that it is driven by privilege. Students who go to college because they are trying to get an education, to learn about the world and to prepare for a career, and especially those students who are paying for most or all of that education themselves, generally do not participate in the blackout culture.
There are too many students, though, who are in college because their parents are willing and able to pay (often a lot of $$$) for their kids to spend 4 or 5 or 6 years getting blackout drunk in a rite of passage that is damaging to the students and their families, and the campuses and the communities they live in. There is a sense, clearly communicated to me on many occasions by both students and their parents, that college students are entitled to do whatever they want, whenever they want, regardless of the damage inflicted on self or others, as long as the parents are footing the bill. I think this is part nostalgia (parents like to remember how much fun college was, before all those responsibilities kicked in), and part keeping up with the Joneses. The costs are real and can be lifelong - money, time, mental and physical health, legal and academic consequences, etc. It is terrible to have to call 911 for an ambulance to come pick up someone's unconscious child from my yard, but it happens.
There are too many students, though, who are in college because their parents are willing and able to pay (often a lot of $$$) for their kids to spend 4 or 5 or 6 years getting blackout drunk in a rite of passage that is damaging to the students and their families, and the campuses and the communities they live in. There is a sense, clearly communicated to me on many occasions by both students and their parents, that college students are entitled to do whatever they want, whenever they want, regardless of the damage inflicted on self or others, as long as the parents are footing the bill. I think this is part nostalgia (parents like to remember how much fun college was, before all those responsibilities kicked in), and part keeping up with the Joneses. The costs are real and can be lifelong - money, time, mental and physical health, legal and academic consequences, etc. It is terrible to have to call 911 for an ambulance to come pick up someone's unconscious child from my yard, but it happens.
2
A common observation in the comments seems to be that this type of activity has been going on in colleges for generations, and it has. But in every college in every generation, there are students/young adults who do not participate in these extremely negative activities. (And drinking to excess or “blackout” is one of the most negative activities for anyone, young or otherwise, since it is life-threatening.) It is probably a majority who take a different route – what sets them apart?
It seems to me that a child who is raised in a healthy and balanced environment, taught to have a deep respect for his/her mind, body and health, will have well-developed strategies for resisting and rejecting pressure to participate in such obviously harmful activities, and will have productive outlets for stress management that are second nature. Sports, recreational activities and volunteering with people who truly have “stressful” situations come to mind, but in a more organic sense, not as another thing on the competitive checklist in order to get into college.
It seems to me that a child who is raised in a healthy and balanced environment, taught to have a deep respect for his/her mind, body and health, will have well-developed strategies for resisting and rejecting pressure to participate in such obviously harmful activities, and will have productive outlets for stress management that are second nature. Sports, recreational activities and volunteering with people who truly have “stressful” situations come to mind, but in a more organic sense, not as another thing on the competitive checklist in order to get into college.
1
While many posts reflect that these types of things have been going on forever, one thing that has changed incrementally is our understanding of what a ‘blackout’ is, how it is created, what pathways and parts of the brain it impacts, and how to take the necessary steps to prevent one.
Our challenge is we know more about the vastness of space then our own brain. What we do uncover, document and share should be used to raise awareness.
The university system should educate its population as to what we know know is happening to the brain during ‘blackouts’ and what do not know about this disruptor.
What science does know is a large quantity of alcohol in a short period of time, interferes with parts of the brain that keeps short term memory from forming as they would under non-alcohol intake situations. Sometimes be induced by recalling other outlier events or ‘priming events. Sometimes they are lost forever. One thing that is also coming to the forefront is the interaction of caffeine and alcohol. A combination now seen to increase the rate and frequency of consumption. Additionally, caffeine and alcohol result in more aggressive behavior be it sexual or assault.
It is ironic after thousands of years we know little about the brain and these drugs-despite so many studies.
Our challenge is we know more about the vastness of space then our own brain. What we do uncover, document and share should be used to raise awareness.
The university system should educate its population as to what we know know is happening to the brain during ‘blackouts’ and what do not know about this disruptor.
What science does know is a large quantity of alcohol in a short period of time, interferes with parts of the brain that keeps short term memory from forming as they would under non-alcohol intake situations. Sometimes be induced by recalling other outlier events or ‘priming events. Sometimes they are lost forever. One thing that is also coming to the forefront is the interaction of caffeine and alcohol. A combination now seen to increase the rate and frequency of consumption. Additionally, caffeine and alcohol result in more aggressive behavior be it sexual or assault.
It is ironic after thousands of years we know little about the brain and these drugs-despite so many studies.
3
As a college student who is an active participant in the "blackout culture" I can say with certainty it's more complicated than stress.
A changing world and an incredibly competitive environment add to the desire of students to appear composed and successful, an image easily crafted on social media but near impossible to replicate in real life. This desire to appear to be something one is not, or to actually do well and succeed, is inescapable and the stress it creates is overwhelming for the young mind.
Technology/social media has re defined how we communicate and socialize, face to face communication is raw and scary to many. The easiest way to overcome this fear and enjoy a traditional social setting is to drink and/or use drugs. This lowers inhibitions while at the same time providing cover for any faux pas.
A changing world and an incredibly competitive environment add to the desire of students to appear composed and successful, an image easily crafted on social media but near impossible to replicate in real life. This desire to appear to be something one is not, or to actually do well and succeed, is inescapable and the stress it creates is overwhelming for the young mind.
Technology/social media has re defined how we communicate and socialize, face to face communication is raw and scary to many. The easiest way to overcome this fear and enjoy a traditional social setting is to drink and/or use drugs. This lowers inhibitions while at the same time providing cover for any faux pas.
4
This post makes the case that this is not just an individual or school level problem, but a societal problem.
The phrase "the desire to appear to be something one is not" resonates with me, a 67 year-old former elementary school teacher.
When I was in college, I believed that most of the careers I could choose would require me to do this, that is, be a fake. That was why I went into teaching (which at that time was not a highly desirable career, but was a lot better than what teachers today are faced with). I wanted to be able to be myself, honest and sincere and trying to help other people.
My husband did the same thing. With a chance to have his way paid through a Ph.D in nuclear physics, very high test scores in software writing ability, and a year-and-a-half as an actuary, he instead used his M.A. in pure math to teach high school math for 37 years. He did this because he wanted to be able to be an honest and ethical person, and do some good in the world. He would never choose a teaching career today.
From our viewpoint, today's students and young people have a really tough environment. Not that I excuse the prevalent outrageous drinking.
The phrase "the desire to appear to be something one is not" resonates with me, a 67 year-old former elementary school teacher.
When I was in college, I believed that most of the careers I could choose would require me to do this, that is, be a fake. That was why I went into teaching (which at that time was not a highly desirable career, but was a lot better than what teachers today are faced with). I wanted to be able to be myself, honest and sincere and trying to help other people.
My husband did the same thing. With a chance to have his way paid through a Ph.D in nuclear physics, very high test scores in software writing ability, and a year-and-a-half as an actuary, he instead used his M.A. in pure math to teach high school math for 37 years. He did this because he wanted to be able to be an honest and ethical person, and do some good in the world. He would never choose a teaching career today.
From our viewpoint, today's students and young people have a really tough environment. Not that I excuse the prevalent outrageous drinking.
1
One thing that the many writers of opinion pieces on collegiate alcohol over-consumption fail to recognize is its dependence on less than rigorous classes, easy money (whether from over-indulgent parents or loans to be repaid in some distant bye-and-bye) and college administrations afraid to anger their 'customers'. Liquor is expensive, amazingly so if consumed in bars. While there has always been college-age drinking and foolishness it does seem to have reached a new level of participation and, particularly, acceptance by colleges. I had no money as a student at the University of California 45 years ago, either from parents or loans (which I was unwilling to take out), and scholarships paid for the bare minimum, so I worked. While I was no temperance society member I don't think I had more than a handful of alcoholic beverages during my undergraduate years, and neither did most of the students that I knew. We simply couldn't afford it economically or academically.
The university had policies that forbade it on campus for any reason, and off campus if you were under age. Neither of those brakes on bad behavior, despite alcohol's links to campus sexual assaults and other serious and criminal activities, to say nothing of its effects on student achievement, currently exist at most campuses. Blackout-level consumption is dangerous, and to take it seriously universities and colleges need to be willing to discipline students when their behavior merits it.
The university had policies that forbade it on campus for any reason, and off campus if you were under age. Neither of those brakes on bad behavior, despite alcohol's links to campus sexual assaults and other serious and criminal activities, to say nothing of its effects on student achievement, currently exist at most campuses. Blackout-level consumption is dangerous, and to take it seriously universities and colleges need to be willing to discipline students when their behavior merits it.
3
First, Full Disclosure: I am a 74 year old woman with a Bachelor's degree from a northeastern university. I was a sorority member and spent many weekends at fraternity parties at my university and also at Ivy League schools .
As an adult, I have 3 children and have spent 40+ years as a highly compensated IT professional.
Now to this supposedly 'new' blackout drinking among college kids.
This has been happening as long as young people have been congregating to, supposedly, get an education. There are reasons used to 'explain' it which differ slightly for each generation; 'the roaring twenties ', the depression of the 30's, facing war and perhaps conscription in the 40's, the
need to conform in the 50's, the revolutions to join or avoid in the 60's, the lure of professions of the 70' and 80's, the astronomically rising costs of education of the 90's, great recession and disappearance of professional jobs in the 20 oughts, the destruction of opportunities in the 20 teens.
Every single decade had it's reason to find oblivion, whether it was pressure, belief in personal infalability or fears of war or life.
And each generation has its earnest writers who find this excess chemical intake to oblivian as unique to his/her age group.
It all part of growing up Ms. Carrick, as a participant or an observer.
You would be absolutely amazed if I named the people regularly saw ,blotto' as we called it in college. You'd recognize the names and be awed at their accomplishments.
As an adult, I have 3 children and have spent 40+ years as a highly compensated IT professional.
Now to this supposedly 'new' blackout drinking among college kids.
This has been happening as long as young people have been congregating to, supposedly, get an education. There are reasons used to 'explain' it which differ slightly for each generation; 'the roaring twenties ', the depression of the 30's, facing war and perhaps conscription in the 40's, the
need to conform in the 50's, the revolutions to join or avoid in the 60's, the lure of professions of the 70' and 80's, the astronomically rising costs of education of the 90's, great recession and disappearance of professional jobs in the 20 oughts, the destruction of opportunities in the 20 teens.
Every single decade had it's reason to find oblivion, whether it was pressure, belief in personal infalability or fears of war or life.
And each generation has its earnest writers who find this excess chemical intake to oblivian as unique to his/her age group.
It all part of growing up Ms. Carrick, as a participant or an observer.
You would be absolutely amazed if I named the people regularly saw ,blotto' as we called it in college. You'd recognize the names and be awed at their accomplishments.
199
Actually, having been part of the 70s high school/80s college scene, this is very different. I don't by the competitive over achiever excuse, but this is different.
1
I agree every generation has an excuse for drinking too much. What I find terribly, terribly sad is the idea that it's "all a part of growing up as a participant or an observer." I drank maybe four beers a weekend when I attended a big public university in the late sixties/early seventies. I had a huge circle of friends, edited the newspaper, played pool, went to concerts--in short, I was a "participant." It was the Greeks who were passed out on the front lawns in my day. It also was the students at the small, elite universities who proudly proclaimed "we work hard and we party hard." Many of these people are my friends and several are now alcoholics. I simply can't understand why drinking too much has come to be equated with having fun and "participating." It's pathetic.
4
What I find interesting is the constant dance between insurance underwriters, college administration and law enforcemen. They always appear to do something to crack down on drinking but everything Ms Carrick described happened when I was in college 30 years ago
I think one of the ways to combat this self-destructive "culture" would be to give students more information, preferably as part of the "freshman year experience" class many colleges mandate, about the risks of excessive alcohol consumption. Females are vastly more likely to be sexually assaulted while drunk, and may end up with an unplanned pregnancy. Males are less likely to be sexually assaulted, but more likely to get in fights or get arrested. Either gender can drive drunk or ride in a car driven by someone who is drunk, and either can be robbed. Either can end up comatose or dead, especially if the booze is combined with other drugs. Any of those possibilities can have life-changing consequences. Preferably, this information should be given by a guest speaker who has suffered a major negative consequence of binge drinking, so students will take them more seriously. This behavior is only harmless if you don't get injured as a result. The author seems to think she doesn't know anyone it has happened to, but that's probably not true. The victims simply have one more source of pain that they hide.
8
I am a college student currently studying abroad in Madrid, Spain, which by coincidence is the city where I was born and raised. I have been here for a year, and I must say that while the student population here is generally more respectful of their bodies when they go out than in the USA, it is simply untrue that the bulk of the issue that exists in the USA does not exist here, lower drinking age and all.
People, many of my local friends included, go out with the explicit purpose of getting drunk and in the process make terrible decisions, oftentimes getting blackout drunk. Therefore, the argument that European drinking culture, with its idealized moderate wine drinking during meals, is the be-all solution to the American collegiate drinking problem is disingenuous at best. Lowering the drinking age is a wise idea, but for reasons altogether different that I won't go into here.
I believe the author is onto something when she says that drinking is a coping mechanism for college students who feel distressed. However, they do not have so much to be distressed about, since even in the worst of the financial crisis, college graduates' unemployment rate was never alarming by most measures. What students should learn above anything before going to college is that they need only be eager to earn good grades and take an occasionally Machiavellian attitude to life, thus inspiring them to take college for what it is; an opportunity to get ahead in the world, and not a four year party.
People, many of my local friends included, go out with the explicit purpose of getting drunk and in the process make terrible decisions, oftentimes getting blackout drunk. Therefore, the argument that European drinking culture, with its idealized moderate wine drinking during meals, is the be-all solution to the American collegiate drinking problem is disingenuous at best. Lowering the drinking age is a wise idea, but for reasons altogether different that I won't go into here.
I believe the author is onto something when she says that drinking is a coping mechanism for college students who feel distressed. However, they do not have so much to be distressed about, since even in the worst of the financial crisis, college graduates' unemployment rate was never alarming by most measures. What students should learn above anything before going to college is that they need only be eager to earn good grades and take an occasionally Machiavellian attitude to life, thus inspiring them to take college for what it is; an opportunity to get ahead in the world, and not a four year party.
13
Perhaps the significant difference here is the violence associated with drinking in America.
Now with more guns on campus love a very bad feeling things will not improve
Now with more guns on campus love a very bad feeling things will not improve
Excessive drinking on college campuses, too much stress, expectation on students?
I wonder what engineers would say just looking at it like an engineering problem. First, I suppose, we have certain expectations which are placed on the students, they have academic challenges, grades, "targets" if you will. Then the students are supposed to aim themselves like artillery pieces and hit these targets--often multiple students aiming at single and difficult target which allows few winners, few direct hits.
And all this stress causes the students to recoil into binge drinking from which they try to recover and hit targets again...It seems so much like artillery piece function: Your task is to calibrate, hit target, recoil smoothly and shoot again. Which means if the college excessive drinking/competition for grades pattern is similar to artillery piece function the students are obviously not functioning optimally at both sides of engineering problem--they are neither shooting properly nor recoiling properly.
So we must question if each student is being properly evaluated as to capacity, whether targets are set properly for each student's capacity and take care of the recoil problem, how to recoil properly, smoothly, efficiently to shoot again...From an engineering standpoint education is probably defective in all parts: Students are struggling to hit targets and are recoiling into binge drinking which is hardly smooth recoil to fire again.
I wonder what engineers would say just looking at it like an engineering problem. First, I suppose, we have certain expectations which are placed on the students, they have academic challenges, grades, "targets" if you will. Then the students are supposed to aim themselves like artillery pieces and hit these targets--often multiple students aiming at single and difficult target which allows few winners, few direct hits.
And all this stress causes the students to recoil into binge drinking from which they try to recover and hit targets again...It seems so much like artillery piece function: Your task is to calibrate, hit target, recoil smoothly and shoot again. Which means if the college excessive drinking/competition for grades pattern is similar to artillery piece function the students are obviously not functioning optimally at both sides of engineering problem--they are neither shooting properly nor recoiling properly.
So we must question if each student is being properly evaluated as to capacity, whether targets are set properly for each student's capacity and take care of the recoil problem, how to recoil properly, smoothly, efficiently to shoot again...From an engineering standpoint education is probably defective in all parts: Students are struggling to hit targets and are recoiling into binge drinking which is hardly smooth recoil to fire again.
1
People are not machines, least of all guns. I think a better way to approach this is to raise our children to feel engaged inter lives including the pressure of trying to achieve a goal that they may not entirely accomplish without becoming self-destructive. An open ended goal is ideal for allowing a person to grow through struggle. Martial arts are an excellent example. You never really reach perfection--you grow stronger, faster and more fluid through the struggle to achieve perfection. There is no ultimate end point, just getting on the mat and giving today your best shot.
1
Ms. Carrick has accurately described a serious problem, but I have the feeling she vastly overstates the case for academic pressures being one of the leading causes. How can students who have so much time to indulge in drinking, much less binge drinking, be facing any serious academic requirements? I mean, it’s not just the time spent in getting drunk and attending parties. Surely at least one more day is wasted recovering. If the curriculum is so demanding, how do the students have so much time to devote to non-academic pursuits? The proposition collapses of its own dead weight. I don’t mean Ms. Carrick is being deliberately misleading. I believe the whole definition of what a demanding curriculum really is has been lost on a generation of college administrators, students, and parents.
But whatever the merit of that argument, here is my bottom line: Quite aside from the moral and health issues involved, one way or another, we taxpayers are subsidizing this permanent drunken bacchanal that infests our college campuses. It’s long past time for the taxpayer to end it, in one of two ways: demand higher academic standards that deprive students of the time to spend so fecklessly, or impose tougher sanctions on those who engage in it. I, as a taxpayer, have the right to demand such steps be taken to get more bang for my bucks.
But whatever the merit of that argument, here is my bottom line: Quite aside from the moral and health issues involved, one way or another, we taxpayers are subsidizing this permanent drunken bacchanal that infests our college campuses. It’s long past time for the taxpayer to end it, in one of two ways: demand higher academic standards that deprive students of the time to spend so fecklessly, or impose tougher sanctions on those who engage in it. I, as a taxpayer, have the right to demand such steps be taken to get more bang for my bucks.
15
In order.
1. Most likely they aren't spending a day recovering. Part of being college age is being able to drink all night and do stuff during the day. Usually you don't start needing a day to recover until you are around 25 or so.
2. Because of the previous point, the rest of your argument becomes moot. Higher academic standards would actually drive the students to drink even more than they already do.
1. Most likely they aren't spending a day recovering. Part of being college age is being able to drink all night and do stuff during the day. Usually you don't start needing a day to recover until you are around 25 or so.
2. Because of the previous point, the rest of your argument becomes moot. Higher academic standards would actually drive the students to drink even more than they already do.
1
This is nothing new. I taught on the college level between 1980 and 1993, and blackout drinking was prevalent throughout that period.
Many students, especially those in the fraternities and sororities, partied hardy on Friday and Saturday night, as well as on Wednesday night, which they thought of as "hump day."
I say "many," because it was not ALL students who participated in the party scene while complaining that "there's nothing to do" on campus. Those who had real intellectual or artistic interests and those whose religious beliefs either forbade alcohol or gave them an inner strength, did not over-indulge. International students rarely partied themselves into oblivion. Nor did the adult returnees, some of whom held down full-time jobs while finishing their degrees.
There's a lesson here. Some young people don't belong in college, because they're fulfilling their parents' aspirations, not their own. The heavy drinkers I knew claimed "unbearable stress," but when I interviewed some of them for a study abroad program and asked about their most stressful experience so far, amidst those who had suffered devastating experiences, some said that college was their most stressful experience.
These same students ignored the activities that were available on campus: plays, concerts, non-commercial films, and others, all of which seemed to attract more townspeople than students. As one foreign student said, "There are no boring places, only boring people."
Many students, especially those in the fraternities and sororities, partied hardy on Friday and Saturday night, as well as on Wednesday night, which they thought of as "hump day."
I say "many," because it was not ALL students who participated in the party scene while complaining that "there's nothing to do" on campus. Those who had real intellectual or artistic interests and those whose religious beliefs either forbade alcohol or gave them an inner strength, did not over-indulge. International students rarely partied themselves into oblivion. Nor did the adult returnees, some of whom held down full-time jobs while finishing their degrees.
There's a lesson here. Some young people don't belong in college, because they're fulfilling their parents' aspirations, not their own. The heavy drinkers I knew claimed "unbearable stress," but when I interviewed some of them for a study abroad program and asked about their most stressful experience so far, amidst those who had suffered devastating experiences, some said that college was their most stressful experience.
These same students ignored the activities that were available on campus: plays, concerts, non-commercial films, and others, all of which seemed to attract more townspeople than students. As one foreign student said, "There are no boring places, only boring people."
38
You have really nailed down what I see daily on campus, factors that lead to student disengagement at "elite" schools.
Two big culprits: self-imposed stress from poor time-management (on the phone all day, so not enough time to study) + parental hovering & pressure.
Two big culprits: self-imposed stress from poor time-management (on the phone all day, so not enough time to study) + parental hovering & pressure.
1
This is a misleading piece as it is centered around a presumption that the author supports with little evidence, namely, that these students have the intention of drinking to "black out." Recent studies, however, suggest that binge drinking may also be a result of the tendency of the adolescent brain to suppress risk and elevate peer acceptance, which also leads to other activities that are difficult for adults to understand. It is as, or more, likely that the drinking ritual is a way that students forge relationships with other students through the shared "risk" of what is otherwise a socially acceptable behavior (drinking alcohol). The passing out is an undesired consequence of this activity, one which usually leads to regret and embarrassment the next day.
I make this observation not to minimize the problem with binge drinking, but because I am afraid that by jumping to the wrong conclusions about the cause, any ideas for addressing the problem will be ineffective. The author's unsupported assumption allows her to hypothesize on the reason for this behavior - stress and competition among students. But similar behavior is routinely observed among others of the same age, who do not live in a college environment. This suggests that reducing the amount of stress on students will not reduce binge drinking. The author would be well-advised to spend more time analyzing the mindset of the students involved, before jumping to a conclusion regarding environmental triggers.
I make this observation not to minimize the problem with binge drinking, but because I am afraid that by jumping to the wrong conclusions about the cause, any ideas for addressing the problem will be ineffective. The author's unsupported assumption allows her to hypothesize on the reason for this behavior - stress and competition among students. But similar behavior is routinely observed among others of the same age, who do not live in a college environment. This suggests that reducing the amount of stress on students will not reduce binge drinking. The author would be well-advised to spend more time analyzing the mindset of the students involved, before jumping to a conclusion regarding environmental triggers.
6
This is nothing new. I went away to college and saw the exact same behaviors from students in my dorm and every other dorm. The drinking age then was 18 and there were just as many students trying to drink to blackout as there are now. They too believed that drunkenness relieved them of all responsibility to be civil, careful, keep their hands to themselves, etc. Perhaps our society needs to change the message it gives to all of us about drinking: it's okay to drink but it's not okay, even if you are drunk, to behave irresponsibly. And that it is true no matter what the legal drinking age is.
The other thing that hasn't changed and should is that you have to be perfect. You aren't allowed to fail. You cannot make mistakes. You must get straight A's in high school and college to amount to anything. You must go to college. This was unrealistic in the 70s and is unrealistic now. If, as a society we have decided that college is necessary we should tack it onto K-12 and change it to a public service funded by the communities rather than the individual students and their families. Or, if we don't like that, we should improve the courses for students who are not college bound and offer them apprenticeships that lead to good jobs upon graduation.
There is no reason for any young adult to have so much debt that they cannot start their lives with some hope. There is also no reason to outsource entry level jobs if we want Americans to have decent lives.
The other thing that hasn't changed and should is that you have to be perfect. You aren't allowed to fail. You cannot make mistakes. You must get straight A's in high school and college to amount to anything. You must go to college. This was unrealistic in the 70s and is unrealistic now. If, as a society we have decided that college is necessary we should tack it onto K-12 and change it to a public service funded by the communities rather than the individual students and their families. Or, if we don't like that, we should improve the courses for students who are not college bound and offer them apprenticeships that lead to good jobs upon graduation.
There is no reason for any young adult to have so much debt that they cannot start their lives with some hope. There is also no reason to outsource entry level jobs if we want Americans to have decent lives.
131
Hen3ry and I do not always agree, but she always has something worth saying, and expresses it thoughtfully and lucidly. I happen to agree with her this time. Well said, madame.
Back in the day, we all felt the sloppy drunks were bores; who wouldn't be invited again
1
hen-3-ry ... hmmmm ... It recognize the phonetics of it :-)
Makes me smile - is this you, Tom Foolery?
Makes me smile - is this you, Tom Foolery?
Heavy drinking, especially to blackout, wastes a lot of time. If you're blind drunk on Saturday night, you're hung over all day Sunday which means you're not doing any class work. Maybe not wasting an entire day each weekend would lead to less stress.
Colleges could cut through this culture. College-age kids have a lot of idealism which could be channeled to, say, weekend hiking-camping trips to do environmental cleanup, or to help people damaged by recent floods. This has the added advantage of resume polishing. "Worked with Habitat for Humanity" looks so much better than "drank til I puked every weekend."
Colleges could cut through this culture. College-age kids have a lot of idealism which could be channeled to, say, weekend hiking-camping trips to do environmental cleanup, or to help people damaged by recent floods. This has the added advantage of resume polishing. "Worked with Habitat for Humanity" looks so much better than "drank til I puked every weekend."
104
Colleges do offer alternative programs like those you mention and some students do sign up but students cannot be forced to participate. Is this what you are suggesting? Today's colleges and universities offer many more opportunities for student involvement than in the past. Some students will make bad choices regardless of the many opportunities offered by universities. They are not 'victims', they are immature. I saw this behavior when I was in college in the 60s. Nothing new here.
A sad commentary on both the kids and their parents.
There will always be economic stresses and competitive stresses. A lot of the stress is unnecessarily self-imposed or imposed by parents. Parents need to make sure that they show their kids that there are healthy mechanisms for managing stress.
From this essay it seems like many kids have not yet learned coping mechanisms and are not creative when it comes to leisure time.
There will always be economic stresses and competitive stresses. A lot of the stress is unnecessarily self-imposed or imposed by parents. Parents need to make sure that they show their kids that there are healthy mechanisms for managing stress.
From this essay it seems like many kids have not yet learned coping mechanisms and are not creative when it comes to leisure time.
54
They haven't learned coping mechanisms because parents don't let them. This is what happens when parents micromanage every facet of their children's lives from birth until college. The goal of raising children is to raise independent adults. The problem now is many young adults haven't built much resilience because every time something happened growing up their parents handled it for them.
2
"Despite the risks — health and otherwise — blackout is not going away. Not as long as we continue to be competitive overachievers who treat the trend as a joke and as our only means to relieve stress."
----
Attributing binge and blackout drinking to deal with the pressures of "overachievers" could ordinarily be classed as misguided narcissism, but it is indicative of the lies that alcoholics typically use to justify their drinking, and their resulting behavior.
What the author describes here are not children letting off steam, but rather a collection of adults who fail to react to the norms of pressure in a constructive manner in which one might expect, or hope, they would. Within American society, we often college students a "pass" for their bad behavior while in school, chalking it up to youthful indulgences and the passing of adolescence. This is hardly that. Anyone who has an alcoholic in their life will see that what Carrick describes here are classically symptomatic of alcoholism itself.
So much of this essay reads of a desire to escape reality, to avoid the stress of daily life, to deliberately "forget" the day. The drinking to "blackout" itself - is one of the biggest warning signs of alcoholism.
Had this been written within another context -- a professional at a law office, or a doctor at a hospital, the alarm bells would be ringing. Alcoholism does not discriminate based on age or occupation. Just on stupidity.
Get to an AA meeting. Soon.
----
Attributing binge and blackout drinking to deal with the pressures of "overachievers" could ordinarily be classed as misguided narcissism, but it is indicative of the lies that alcoholics typically use to justify their drinking, and their resulting behavior.
What the author describes here are not children letting off steam, but rather a collection of adults who fail to react to the norms of pressure in a constructive manner in which one might expect, or hope, they would. Within American society, we often college students a "pass" for their bad behavior while in school, chalking it up to youthful indulgences and the passing of adolescence. This is hardly that. Anyone who has an alcoholic in their life will see that what Carrick describes here are classically symptomatic of alcoholism itself.
So much of this essay reads of a desire to escape reality, to avoid the stress of daily life, to deliberately "forget" the day. The drinking to "blackout" itself - is one of the biggest warning signs of alcoholism.
Had this been written within another context -- a professional at a law office, or a doctor at a hospital, the alarm bells would be ringing. Alcoholism does not discriminate based on age or occupation. Just on stupidity.
Get to an AA meeting. Soon.
61
In Germany, the drinking age is 16 and the driving age is 18. I think they have it figured out.
Children need to learn about dealing with alcohol while they are with their parents. They need to observe people imbibing controlled amounts; not people downing an entire fifth of Vodka in one evening.
Especially for women, drinking to blackout can have forever consequences.
Children need to learn about dealing with alcohol while they are with their parents. They need to observe people imbibing controlled amounts; not people downing an entire fifth of Vodka in one evening.
Especially for women, drinking to blackout can have forever consequences.
43
Sometimes it goes the other way. My mother was an alcoholic. She drank to "blackout" every night. Often she was violent first. Consequently, having seen firsthand the damage alcohol could do, I didn't find it amusing in the slightest when my fellow college students drank themselves sick. Perhaps as an extension of the role I played in my family, I was usually the one who drank little, if at all, and spent the night looking after everyone else and getting them home safe.
2
I don't know that life is more stressful or competitive. In fact, it is probably less so. What has changed is the notion that everyone can "succeed" in life. It is strictly up to each person which is patently untrue. There are just too many random, and / or outside influences as to how well one does on life regardless of effort - unexpected illness or injury, sexism, racism, you name it. My patents taught me this lesson. I think today's parents need to teach it their children more than they seem to. Then maybe, I would see fewer 20 year olds with gray hair at my job.
7
> There are just too many random, and / or outside influences as to how well one does on life regardless of effort - unexpected illness or injury, sexism, racism, you name it.
This is a rationalization ,backed by modernist intellectuals, of the evasion of reason.
This is a rationalization ,backed by modernist intellectuals, of the evasion of reason.
Topical piece but I disagree that black-out drinking is specifically a "coping mechanism" for stress. 13 years ago (when I went to college), the perception was that it was less "competitive" to get into schools. (I think some of Frank Bruni's data shows this isn't exactly true, however.) Most of the good students I surrounded myself with were not binge drinking to black out and we were the ones who exceled. The real hard partiers were rarely academic models -- how could they be? I think the author's argument of stress and coping is more a reflection of how quickly mental health labels and diagnoses can fly in school settings these days. Newsflash, undergrad college is easy compared to most of life. Don't hide behind "pressure" and "stress" and "anxiety" for giving a pass to blackout drinking -- colleges don't try very hard to change the culture, either.
37
Agree with those who assert that college drinking will never abate. There's a time in life for foolish risks, and that may very well be the undergraduate years. Yet I find this writer (somewhat foolishly, perhaps) fails to account for the devastation excessive and/or blackout drinking can cause. Death from alcohol poisoning or death at the hands of a stranger (witness Hannah Graham of Virginia) are irreversible and not capable of being laughed off as an occasional venture into ridiculous behavior might be. Best case scenario is that if students are going to drink in this fashion that all safeguards have been marshaled and are easily accessible. No driving, no meandering off without a check-in, no failure to consider the limits of tolerance.
I do not doubt that college has been invested with a lot of stress, no doubt stemming at least in part from its exorbitant costs with little immediately foreseeable returns on investment. Yet instead of engaging with alcohol as a coping mechanism, which may not be of lifelong utility, perhaps students ought to engage in "adulting," developing some skills that really would help with stress and not involve abuse of the self or others. Easier said than done, I know, particularly not when "all the cool kids" are doing it.
I do not doubt that college has been invested with a lot of stress, no doubt stemming at least in part from its exorbitant costs with little immediately foreseeable returns on investment. Yet instead of engaging with alcohol as a coping mechanism, which may not be of lifelong utility, perhaps students ought to engage in "adulting," developing some skills that really would help with stress and not involve abuse of the self or others. Easier said than done, I know, particularly not when "all the cool kids" are doing it.
While finding the limits to responsible use of alcohol by crossing those limits seems to have been a part of the college experience for decades, the author misses that the weekends' overindulgence have changed from a celebration of life to an escape from it. I think that we readers who are trying to understand today's students through our college experiences decades ago are forgetting that a college education was once a ticket to a good life. We were no more and no less aware of our world than our young modern counterparts, but ours was a world with more call for optimism. We were relatively debt free, we had some trust that we could control our government through democracy, and we had good reason to believe we could support ourselves by using what we knew. What we did not yet know about was how easily we could overwhelm our planet, or how easily corporate greed rather than our aspirations could replace government. College seemed a rite with a purpose, and because our parents more often than not had been denied higher education, we respected learning and saw the value of it for itself, because our world allowed that. Today's world awareness carries less reason for optimism. This article like too many in NYT misses the fact that the reasons for blackouts are now different. We believed we could change our world for the better; our counterparts, seeing the world they are in, fear they cannot. We critique symptoms while refusing to accept the reality of illness.
32
This article mentions a characteristic that my husband and I have been thinking about in reference to our daughter, who is a junior in high school:(coming from our own experiences) the fact that smaller schools and smaller cities have more limited social activities. Smaller schools may have less active student groups or smaller student groups; where as smaller cities have less places that 18 - 21 year olds can gather and have fun outside of the Greek row. this is just one more aspect that family should consider when considering a college. I would really like my daughter to be able to go to concerts and gallery openings or whatever it is that will help her relax on the weekends and give her an area to interact with a group of like-minded individuals.
22
(Not Mark) Yes, that does seem to be part of the problem, but don't kid yourself, even at universities that are very large and have lots to do, etc., there is lots of drinking. My son volunteers for a car service to pick up students who are too drunk to drive or even walk back to campus. This is a very large university and the area around it is very nice with lots to do. The school itself pushes kids to get involved, etc. There is still plenty of drinking going on. All of it illegal, of course. The 21 year old drinking age is really a stupid idea, but then we all know how well prohibition and the war-on-drugs is going.
I think that is great that you want that for your daughter! I suggest you take a very active role NOW, in actually finding such a group for her, if you are able. If not, I have always found that it is better to go "individual" than group with "not like-minded" people who have different goals and can actually even hurt your child (partying gone wrong).
I'd offer help, as I was Valedictorian of my High School, and All Academic at University. Perhaps, individual activities like working-out to dance music, taking-up a musical instrument, or comment with you to New York Times Articles... It is a way to get noticed... and who knows... your daughter might even get a scholarship out of it!!!
Ally, write back if you want. I'll check back and reply! Don't give-up on this. Maybe you can contact the Art Museum at The University of Michigan Ann Arbor for suggestions.... I am sure if your daughter wants to, and clearly she has the support of her parents, that there are indeed places/groups/interested professionals who would gladly offer assistance!!!
I'd offer help, as I was Valedictorian of my High School, and All Academic at University. Perhaps, individual activities like working-out to dance music, taking-up a musical instrument, or comment with you to New York Times Articles... It is a way to get noticed... and who knows... your daughter might even get a scholarship out of it!!!
Ally, write back if you want. I'll check back and reply! Don't give-up on this. Maybe you can contact the Art Museum at The University of Michigan Ann Arbor for suggestions.... I am sure if your daughter wants to, and clearly she has the support of her parents, that there are indeed places/groups/interested professionals who would gladly offer assistance!!!
Also, many college kids can easily handle a part-time job. A reason to NOT get a hang-over, and a sense of responsibility beyond the classroom.
1
Interesting premise, but it leaves out the majority of students who drink who are not super competitive in the academic field. Look, there are lots of theories for this type of behavior, but the fact that it occurs in America and not so much in other cultures and countries should also be examined. We have such puritanical drinking laws that once kids are out of the house, they go crazy with the alcohol. Take a look at other countries and you won't find such extreme behavior concerning drinking. It's because they don't have ridiculous drinking ages and alcohol is introduced gradually and is generally part of a meal. How can such extreme drinking really be conducive to scholarly achievement?
18
Ever been to Australia?
1
@sara: You clearly are unaware of the incredibly severe drinking problem throughout the entire UK (not to mention Russia and some other countries in that area) - so perhaps you should back off the "take a look at other countries" comment. Getting falling-down, blackout drunk in the UK is just about epidemic among their young adults.
2
An interesting contrast - this essay about the culture of drinking among college students and the ongoing discourse (such as referenced in Paul Krugman's column today Vote as if It Matters) about millennials' general political apathy.
It is hard to buy the often offered argument that millennials are politically cynical because of the world they are confronting, (Actually it is the now 65 year-olds former 1960s activists who would be justified in feeling cynical. Millennials are hardly even trying to make a change so far)
As for drinking, while understanding that college students are stressed - and it is a scary world - it seems like the American culture and media messages of entertainment, partying, consumption and shopping are significant culprits here. One would assume that 20- somethings during the WWII and Vietnam War eras were pretty stressed but was there a cultural norm of constant drinking and partying?
And by the way, the drinking continues after graduation - bars throughout NYC and SF are testament that drinking is a priority and college graduates are more than willing to spend their money this way.
It is hard to buy the often offered argument that millennials are politically cynical because of the world they are confronting, (Actually it is the now 65 year-olds former 1960s activists who would be justified in feeling cynical. Millennials are hardly even trying to make a change so far)
As for drinking, while understanding that college students are stressed - and it is a scary world - it seems like the American culture and media messages of entertainment, partying, consumption and shopping are significant culprits here. One would assume that 20- somethings during the WWII and Vietnam War eras were pretty stressed but was there a cultural norm of constant drinking and partying?
And by the way, the drinking continues after graduation - bars throughout NYC and SF are testament that drinking is a priority and college graduates are more than willing to spend their money this way.
22
That generation (50s and 60s).... I went to one frat party -- and seeing the horny drunk young men knew I did not want to be there. Bad beer was disgusting... For the rest, we could not afford booz after buying books.. Also my friends were not from drinking cultures.
IMO all of the post lecture receptions on most campuses in the NYC area should be dry!! Stupid to even encourage the young uns to drink.. Bad wine is not gentile! and certainly not a sign of status.
-Alcoholism is a disease...
The wine culture can be a phony as a 3$ bill (only in Cuba!, where the drinks are quite weak by US standards.) Old, I drink my one drink (watered) per diem -- makes me sleepy! and I count my calories.
IMO all of the post lecture receptions on most campuses in the NYC area should be dry!! Stupid to even encourage the young uns to drink.. Bad wine is not gentile! and certainly not a sign of status.
-Alcoholism is a disease...
The wine culture can be a phony as a 3$ bill (only in Cuba!, where the drinks are quite weak by US standards.) Old, I drink my one drink (watered) per diem -- makes me sleepy! and I count my calories.
As a recovering alcoholic of over 27 years, I have had my share of blackouts. Our actions and conversations during blackout do not record in our memory, therefore there is no memory to recover. Blackouts became a frightening experience for me in my career as an alcoholic. Getting my alcohol level so high that my "brain recording" stopped. There is nothing fun or recreational about blackout drinking. It is a symptom of deeper mental health issues and stress.
57
Perhaps, if parents could start thinking less of their children as potential geniuses and spent some constructive time on what is truly affordable, college life could be a more enjoyable experience. The idea to mortgage a house to pay for college might seem brave, but is plain stupid and it creates an environment of unnecessary pressure for the entire family.
26
This column is about more than drinking to excess, which has been around at least since F. Scott Fitzgerald's generation notoriously managed to mix privileged ivy eductions with being slobberingly drunk. This column is about nihilism on college campuses.
The larger picture to which this culture of nihilism belongs is the culture of quiet nihilism as a whole that now marks Western society. Western culture centers on secularism and tolerance, neither of which offers anything other than materialist pleasure and "success" determined by the brutal measure of capitalist competition. Meanwhile, while Islam thrives, Judaism and Christianity wither. In sum, there's nothing in Western culture to salve the spiritual side of human beings.
As for college students, many now going to college are ill-equipped for higher education. At the same time, no matter their talents or interests, all college students now feel the pressure to major in STEM fields.
The key to eradicating the nihilism of college students rests in the maligned and ever shrinking humanities and arts. Only a return to a study of the liberal arts as a whole, understood from the Renaissance to be the study of what makes a human being, offers hope to college students who feel the need to drink until they black out.
A return to valuing the deepest questions posed by the study of history, literature, philosophy, and yes, drawing and painting, would bring these students back from the edge.
The larger picture to which this culture of nihilism belongs is the culture of quiet nihilism as a whole that now marks Western society. Western culture centers on secularism and tolerance, neither of which offers anything other than materialist pleasure and "success" determined by the brutal measure of capitalist competition. Meanwhile, while Islam thrives, Judaism and Christianity wither. In sum, there's nothing in Western culture to salve the spiritual side of human beings.
As for college students, many now going to college are ill-equipped for higher education. At the same time, no matter their talents or interests, all college students now feel the pressure to major in STEM fields.
The key to eradicating the nihilism of college students rests in the maligned and ever shrinking humanities and arts. Only a return to a study of the liberal arts as a whole, understood from the Renaissance to be the study of what makes a human being, offers hope to college students who feel the need to drink until they black out.
A return to valuing the deepest questions posed by the study of history, literature, philosophy, and yes, drawing and painting, would bring these students back from the edge.
74
> Western culture centers on secularism and tolerance, neither of which offers anything other than materialist pleasure and "success" determined by the brutal measure of capitalist competition.
Modernism/nihilism killed the West's rational humanism and respect for the pursuit of happiness. Religion is the maggots on the corpse. Both modernism/nihilism and religion reject the mental effort of reasoning about reality.
Modernism/nihilism corrupts mind into a nuanced pretzel. Religion is lost in fantasy. See: Atlas Shrugged.
Modernism/nihilism killed the West's rational humanism and respect for the pursuit of happiness. Religion is the maggots on the corpse. Both modernism/nihilism and religion reject the mental effort of reasoning about reality.
Modernism/nihilism corrupts mind into a nuanced pretzel. Religion is lost in fantasy. See: Atlas Shrugged.
Did you ever hear of Jackson Pollack?
1
What an enormously close-minded view of "liberality" in education.
I grew up in Israel, where character development and life skills were integrated from first grade all the way to high school. By the time kids are 18 they have strong morals embedded and ready for mandatory ray service. There was no culture of drinking or drugs. The focus was clear. Live a meaningful life, not wasteful one!
I have lived in the USA for 30 years. I moved here when I was 18, I went to college and completed my masters. I was busy working and going to school. Never engaged in any wasteful activities. We live in a great country where everyone can have access to education. But education must be relevant!
I have a teen age daughter who has been in a private education since first grade. I am deeply disappointed with wasteful hours spent on non relevant material. 7th grade my daughter learned to change tires and folding clothes. This is outrageous to me. It tells me that administrators and curriculum developers have no clue of what is relevant and important to each age group to build a strong base so kids acquire life skills.
I had a long conversation with the school principal, which at one point I asked him "what is one skill that we all need regardless age?" He looked dumbfounded...I responded to him "what about conflict resolution, decision making skills..." Needless to say that he needs those skill himself :(
One mistake, one trauma, can change their life forever!
We need first and foremost provide our kids life skills with strong character!
I have lived in the USA for 30 years. I moved here when I was 18, I went to college and completed my masters. I was busy working and going to school. Never engaged in any wasteful activities. We live in a great country where everyone can have access to education. But education must be relevant!
I have a teen age daughter who has been in a private education since first grade. I am deeply disappointed with wasteful hours spent on non relevant material. 7th grade my daughter learned to change tires and folding clothes. This is outrageous to me. It tells me that administrators and curriculum developers have no clue of what is relevant and important to each age group to build a strong base so kids acquire life skills.
I had a long conversation with the school principal, which at one point I asked him "what is one skill that we all need regardless age?" He looked dumbfounded...I responded to him "what about conflict resolution, decision making skills..." Needless to say that he needs those skill himself :(
One mistake, one trauma, can change their life forever!
We need first and foremost provide our kids life skills with strong character!
161
"The phenomenon of an entire generation turning to drugs is such an indictment of today’s culture—of its basic philosophy and its educational establishment—that no further evidence is necessary and no lesser causal explanation is possible. If they had not been trained to believe that belonging to a pack is a moral and
metaphysical necessity, would high-school children risk the physical destruction of their brains in order to belong to a pot-smoking “in-group”? If they had not been trained to believe that reason is impotent, would college
students take “mind-expanding” drugs to seek some “higher” means of cognition?
--The Comprachicos, Ayn Rand.
Also, Teaching Johnny to Think, Leonard Peikoff.
metaphysical necessity, would high-school children risk the physical destruction of their brains in order to belong to a pot-smoking “in-group”? If they had not been trained to believe that reason is impotent, would college
students take “mind-expanding” drugs to seek some “higher” means of cognition?
--The Comprachicos, Ayn Rand.
Also, Teaching Johnny to Think, Leonard Peikoff.
YOu do not have to be from Israel to be responsible and respect alcohol. I went to the #1 party school in he country and never felt compelled to drink to blackout and have never done it. My parents showed respect for alcohol and taught me the same. Like all things in life, look at it as a life choice and drink but be responsible for yourself.
2
You should have sent your daughter to public schools. In a good district, a much better education can be had, including the life lessons that one learns from being around people of different backgrounds.
1
It's also worth mentioning that many of the students who are drinking aggressively, to the point of blackout occasionally, can often be quite successful. The idea of drinking being a source of failure simply doesn't register in the mind of many 25/8 always on always going students who feel invincible and immortal. The stress is a real component but a lot of it can be attributed to the need to feel like some sort of superman.
4
Excessive drinking will always be a part of college culture for most students.
Yes, many will drink to the point of blacking out and do that more than a few times, while others will do it once and be very careful the next time not to let it happen. It is often a "safe environment" in which to do it if you have a close group of friends that watches out for each other.
Obviously it is a college experience and those who continue to do it after college will likely find themselves in trouble in one way or another.
Yes, many will drink to the point of blacking out and do that more than a few times, while others will do it once and be very careful the next time not to let it happen. It is often a "safe environment" in which to do it if you have a close group of friends that watches out for each other.
Obviously it is a college experience and those who continue to do it after college will likely find themselves in trouble in one way or another.
5
The item not mentioned is it is illegal to drink for most college students. The genius to stop drinking in high schools seems to have caused binge drinking in college. I went to a college in Philadelphia when Pennsylvania's drinking age was 21 and all the states around it drinking age was 18. It was a big deal for someone with a car to drive to buy alcohol. I witness a lot of binge drinking then. Make drinking a "normal" part of being over 18 and I imagine a lot of the blackout drinking with disappear.
26
(Not Mark) When I was in college the drinking age was 18 (class of '84). Drinking to get drunk was just not done. Even at frat parties most people just wanted to have fun. Getting black-out drunk was not considered fun. The drinking age should be lowered back to 18 so people can go get a beer with their friends on a Friday.
Nope. I grew up where the drinking age was 18, and the culture around drinking was identical. This is not an issue of forbidden fruit, and it's certainly not a new problem.
1
Considering that heavy drinking was a problem on college campuses long before the age limit was raised, I don't think lowering it is going to make a difference.
I have dealt professionally with parents who want to find substance abuse facilities for their teens and young adults for marijuana, something not know for physical addiction, but rarely for alcohol abuse while collegians.
On the vast majority of college campuses, blackout drinking is an acceptable way to alleviate emotional pain. When those same over imbibing individuals get into the professional workforce, they soon find their "go to" means of dealing with overwhelming circumstances is no longer socially acceptable. The most damning hurdle? They've not been given other coping mechanism tools outside of alcohol (or opioids, for that matter) to deal with their issues.
Rather than simply focus on the mechanism co-eds use to blot out the world around them, we'd be better served to analyze why they need to escape in the first place. Academic anxiety, social anxiety, past trauma -- these and a myriad more issues must be positively addressed if we hope to temper drug abuse on college campuses and outside in the "real world."
On the vast majority of college campuses, blackout drinking is an acceptable way to alleviate emotional pain. When those same over imbibing individuals get into the professional workforce, they soon find their "go to" means of dealing with overwhelming circumstances is no longer socially acceptable. The most damning hurdle? They've not been given other coping mechanism tools outside of alcohol (or opioids, for that matter) to deal with their issues.
Rather than simply focus on the mechanism co-eds use to blot out the world around them, we'd be better served to analyze why they need to escape in the first place. Academic anxiety, social anxiety, past trauma -- these and a myriad more issues must be positively addressed if we hope to temper drug abuse on college campuses and outside in the "real world."
33
Parents who drink heavily at home unwittingly teach their children that getting drunk is the way to socialize. When the children go off to college, they may lack even an awareness of other, more rewarding ways that people might relate to each other.
When movies and books show that rock starts or other heroes turn to drugs, alcohol, and even suicide in order to relieve stress, that reinforces stress relief patterns that can only harm young people.
When movies and books show that rock starts or other heroes turn to drugs, alcohol, and even suicide in order to relieve stress, that reinforces stress relief patterns that can only harm young people.
Are they aware that they run the risk of becoming alcoholic? One of those drinks can be the one after which you cannot choose to stop. Alcoholism is a very lousy affliction to have. I recommend trying to stay as far away as possible from it.
2
If the students could drink in bars and restaurants they would learn to drink in a social fashion. Someone drinking to much in a bar is not given a "pass", they are cut off and kicked out by the bouncer. The real problem is the drinking age being set at 21 years old. Anyone who believes that young men and women between the ages of 18 and 21 don't drink probably also believes in the Easter Bunny. When I was in college the drinking age was 18 and we learned to drink in socially acceptable ways.
If you want to end binge drinking and blackouts make the drinking age 18.
If you want to end binge drinking and blackouts make the drinking age 18.
310
Heck, we did binge drinking in high school (early 1970s). Back when Rte 17 in Bergen County was just four lanes -- two north, two south -- we had a friend who was 18 drive us across the border to Suffern to buy Boone's Farm fruit wine. The drinking age is not the problem -- though letting kids get driver's licenses at 17 or 18 and also making alcohol easily available at that age is asking for trouble, especially in those small rural colleges described in the article, isolated and without much public transportation.
We need to address the drinking culture. In some cultures alcohol is a natural part of the diet, consumed in moderation with meals, etc. Drunkenness is stigmatised. OTOH we seem to have created an all-or-nothing culture in which the only reason to drink is to get completely blotto, and 'social drinking' now means 'blacking out'.
Ken Burns' PBS documentary on Prohibition is revealing. Prohibition addressed a very real problem not unlike this one: working men had a separate culture of drinking to excess in bars, blowing their pay, leaving their families destitute, brawling and beating their long-suffering wives and children. All or nothing. According to Burns' documentary, Prohibition and the 'speakeasy' culture introduced what we now think of as moderate social drinking among both sexes. Campuses seem to have replicated the pre-Prohibition culture of excess, with the innovation of making it co-ed.
We need to address the drinking culture. In some cultures alcohol is a natural part of the diet, consumed in moderation with meals, etc. Drunkenness is stigmatised. OTOH we seem to have created an all-or-nothing culture in which the only reason to drink is to get completely blotto, and 'social drinking' now means 'blacking out'.
Ken Burns' PBS documentary on Prohibition is revealing. Prohibition addressed a very real problem not unlike this one: working men had a separate culture of drinking to excess in bars, blowing their pay, leaving their families destitute, brawling and beating their long-suffering wives and children. All or nothing. According to Burns' documentary, Prohibition and the 'speakeasy' culture introduced what we now think of as moderate social drinking among both sexes. Campuses seem to have replicated the pre-Prohibition culture of excess, with the innovation of making it co-ed.
5
I absolutely agree. When I was an undergraduate at a state university in New York in the 1970's, the drinking age was 18. There was a pub on campus which served as a social hub and only rarely did anyone get extremely drunk. If they did, they were asked to leave. Drinking was out in the open so kids drank responsibly. Now, of course, kids took other drugs (LSD was a major problem in those days) but alcohol was not the problem it is today on campuses. In addition, there were many social activity options on campus and Greek life was banned, which helped as well.
1
Leaving the drinking age at 21 seems to decrease the number of auto accidents. It upsets us when young people so immature as to engage in the behavior described kill themselves and others so we try to delay it, obviously unsuccessfully, until they've had a chance to gain some maturity.
Students drinking to point of blackout on college campuses, year 2016?
I am 52, failed high school--used drugs and alcohol--and ironically got my life back around age 20 after having had a mystical experience under LSD and after having taken the dead end job of night time security guard where however for the next 25 years (I worked same company all that time) I could read, walk around and think. I read lots of books. Read everything. Learned to write.
And at times I would think that if I could go back in time and start my school life over I would do things differently--certainly I would do things differently if I were allowed to go back in time armed with all the knowledge, discipline and skill I have now...But you know what? The fact is if I could go back in time I would drop out of school again, but this time I would not display any drug/alcohol pattern or rebelliousness or the like, I would just simply accept the fact that I understand nothing of education and what is expected of me in adult life.
Instead I would again contrive to somehow learn things on my own just for pleasure of learning and handle stress as I do now: Reading, meditation, hiking, playing music (guitar) and the like. I feel often not human but more like a small mammal which has to carve out a rather insignificant but fated niche. If I could be part human and squirrel or fox I would be pretty well set to survive against education, responsibility, maturity and the like.
Cartoon squirrel with book?
I am 52, failed high school--used drugs and alcohol--and ironically got my life back around age 20 after having had a mystical experience under LSD and after having taken the dead end job of night time security guard where however for the next 25 years (I worked same company all that time) I could read, walk around and think. I read lots of books. Read everything. Learned to write.
And at times I would think that if I could go back in time and start my school life over I would do things differently--certainly I would do things differently if I were allowed to go back in time armed with all the knowledge, discipline and skill I have now...But you know what? The fact is if I could go back in time I would drop out of school again, but this time I would not display any drug/alcohol pattern or rebelliousness or the like, I would just simply accept the fact that I understand nothing of education and what is expected of me in adult life.
Instead I would again contrive to somehow learn things on my own just for pleasure of learning and handle stress as I do now: Reading, meditation, hiking, playing music (guitar) and the like. I feel often not human but more like a small mammal which has to carve out a rather insignificant but fated niche. If I could be part human and squirrel or fox I would be pretty well set to survive against education, responsibility, maturity and the like.
Cartoon squirrel with book?
99
I suggest you become a writer. You have the time and, I think, the talent.
1
> I feel often not human but more like a small mammal which has to carve out a rather insignificant but fated niche. If I could be part human and squirrel or fox I would be pretty well set to survive against education, responsibility, maturity and the like.
This is the product of mainstream ,modernist/nihilist intellectuals.
This is the product of mainstream ,modernist/nihilist intellectuals.
Yes, you can write. And I thoroughly enjoyed seeing something I managed as well while working...the time to read.
Such is life. We take salvations where we can find it. And in my pov, your salvation was no minor thing.
Such is life. We take salvations where we can find it. And in my pov, your salvation was no minor thing.
1
I believe most of the commenters have been out of college for years, so it's easy for them to deride or criticize students for drinking. You have to understand that yes, the world has changed since you or someone's son/daughter went to college. Even for students at so-called "elite universities" like Princeton, job placement isn't guaranteed and I've known friends who have been rejected from many, many employers post-grad. The workload is intense, far more intense than anything we've ever experienced. There's always pressure for effortless perfection because someone else seems to do it better with a seamless mask--as college students, we're still a little insecure and afraid to let other see that we're also struggling. So we hide it as best we can. Many of my friends suffer from depression or anxiety that really developed into their full-blown states in college, but you wouldn't know it if you didn't know them personally. This pressure to keep it all hidden manifests in self-destructive ways, and there's not much to do in our small town in terms of social life. So we drink. (Not everyone drinks though, and there's never been a particular pressure to drink either--it's more of a personal choice.) I wouldn't say that we will drink to blackout, because we realize there are always problem sets and papers due the next day, but we certainly self-medicate to cope because it's the only thing we can really do. This sadly makes for high-functioning alcoholics.
123
In other words, life is hard so let's get so drunk we black out. My drug of choice in college was coffee, because I chose to deal with an overloaded schedule, not avoid it.
1
While it makes for high-functioning alcoholics (and I have known some from elite schools like Yale), drinking is not the only way and certainly one of the worst ways to cope. Students can spend that drinking time playing intramural sports, meditating, doing yoga, and a host of other activities that help release stress without endangering health. As you said, it's a personal choice. Make a good one.
1
High Functioning? I do not think so. I suggest you follow a different labeling chart that has stricter, and more accurate requirements/standards.
I think you may be overstating things.
Blackout culture (and I cringed every time you said "going blackout") is first and foremost the logical end result of an alcoholic puritanism that exists in this country. When alcohol is made taboo, and allowed at 21 it becomes a rite of passage. Many of my own friends who were not stressed (and many who were in no way competitive) drank until they blackED out fairly regularly. They did this because they thought it was (gasp) fun! Not because they were forced into it by the cold and calloused competitive world.
I myself don't do it anymore. I don't enjoy the feeling of not being in direct and conscious control of my every action. But I recognize the allure of being able to surrender the stiff mask many are forced to wear, subsuming inhibitions in a wave of alcohol. The desire to be free of thought and consequence for just a few hours, and to revel in the company of others who are acting in concert.
There has long been a certain sanctity attributed to alcohol, and to the traditional rites that mark a transition to adult hood. What you describe is no problem so long as friends and medical facilities are available to help. Rather it is another way for children to view themselves as adults and grope, however hesitantly, at the maturity that will make their imagined status real
Blackout culture (and I cringed every time you said "going blackout") is first and foremost the logical end result of an alcoholic puritanism that exists in this country. When alcohol is made taboo, and allowed at 21 it becomes a rite of passage. Many of my own friends who were not stressed (and many who were in no way competitive) drank until they blackED out fairly regularly. They did this because they thought it was (gasp) fun! Not because they were forced into it by the cold and calloused competitive world.
I myself don't do it anymore. I don't enjoy the feeling of not being in direct and conscious control of my every action. But I recognize the allure of being able to surrender the stiff mask many are forced to wear, subsuming inhibitions in a wave of alcohol. The desire to be free of thought and consequence for just a few hours, and to revel in the company of others who are acting in concert.
There has long been a certain sanctity attributed to alcohol, and to the traditional rites that mark a transition to adult hood. What you describe is no problem so long as friends and medical facilities are available to help. Rather it is another way for children to view themselves as adults and grope, however hesitantly, at the maturity that will make their imagined status real
69
This fails to explain why a country like Britain has an even worse problem with public drunkenness and "binge culture"than the United States, a problem which has not spread down from the repressed, Puritanical middle classes to the former laboring class, but instead has spread up.
And, for the record, university students drinking to excess is the historical norm. Consider the two educational traditions American universities draw from: the English and the German. In the 19th century, student sociability took in place in drinking clubs, eating clubs, fencing clubs, and other fraternity-style institutions that centered around drinking, agonic competition, and, occasionally, debate. An example: Karl Marx was a member of a student drinking club at Bonn before his father forced him to change his ways.
But the real origin of this tradition is the Greek symposium, an all night drinking bout sustaining what would be euphemistically called "enlightened discourse on the higher things" and realistically called "drunken bull." Socrates was notable for drinking all night without appearing drunk. It was also Socrates (or really Plato through Socrates) who compared philosophical speculation to intoxication, rapture, and ecstasy. So my question is: why has our educational system let this tradition whither into the true Puritan distrust of ecstasy both intellectual and alcoholic?
And, for the record, university students drinking to excess is the historical norm. Consider the two educational traditions American universities draw from: the English and the German. In the 19th century, student sociability took in place in drinking clubs, eating clubs, fencing clubs, and other fraternity-style institutions that centered around drinking, agonic competition, and, occasionally, debate. An example: Karl Marx was a member of a student drinking club at Bonn before his father forced him to change his ways.
But the real origin of this tradition is the Greek symposium, an all night drinking bout sustaining what would be euphemistically called "enlightened discourse on the higher things" and realistically called "drunken bull." Socrates was notable for drinking all night without appearing drunk. It was also Socrates (or really Plato through Socrates) who compared philosophical speculation to intoxication, rapture, and ecstasy. So my question is: why has our educational system let this tradition whither into the true Puritan distrust of ecstasy both intellectual and alcoholic?
There was no alcoholic puritanism in Wisconsin in the late '50s. I learned to drink well before my 18th birthday. Beer drinking was socially acceptable for teens, but not in excess. When I reached college in Illinois in 1960, I was amazed to see how the others who had no experience drinking went crazy, but still no one was "going blackout". I have to agree with the author that this is much more serious than kids having fun.
1
You don't seem to have much knowledge about contemporary college campuses, then. The way students drink has changed, particularly at competitive institutions. It doesn't mean it didn't happen before, or that it can't happen as a normal part of maturation, just that there are different contextual frameworks for what's going on now.
I have two sons currently at universities where a weekend drinking culture is accepted, but they are both non-drinkers because they are athletes. They can't imagine training hard 6 days a week only to poison their bodies on the 7th. They still go to parties, and even frat. parties. They still have stress, but they relieve this through sports and friendships. The good thing is that even their friends who sometimes binge respect their decision not to drink. While I agree that there are many excuses to binge, I think that we are doing a disservice to our young generation just to accept this as a necessary coping mechanism. Like improper use of trigger warnings and safe spaces, blind acceptance of a binge alcohol culture at universities is just presuming that our next generation of adults can't handle adulthood. I would like to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume more of them. This is not acceptable, and we must continue trying to understand why it is happening and work to stop this rather than turning a blind eye, suggesting it is a right of passage to adulthood.
103
Even if you are not on the "professional" college athlete level, I think physical activity is important. We were so physically active in my college years-- riding our bikes miles to and from campus, running or surfing on the beach, playing intramural sport, etc. These were huge stress-reducers. I don't think there is enough emphasis on this today.
Hear, hear!
Overindulgent bacchanals are almost synonymous with the American college experience. In fact, cult films such as "Animal House" and 'Old School' have been built on this premise. However, if this op-ed was written thirty years ago, do you think the student would be citing extreme stress and despair about the employment landscape--and the correlated spikes in depression and anxiety--as factors in binge drinking? My guess is no.
Like the millions of white rural workers who have been dispossessed from their livelihoods and now turn to opioids to self-medicate, these students are reacting to a very real breakdown in the socioeconomic contract of the country. They may be young, they may be at prestigious universities, and their opportunities might be marginally better. But they still experience genuine despair.
Ms. Carrick has put the mental health statistics and social factors right at the center of her piece. She makes the connections obvious. And still commenters will blame "lack of self esteem" or some other tired canard for this phenomenon. Students are trying to escape, if only for an evening, a system that tells them that they must make all the right decisions, merely to be given the chance at financial security. You would want to escape that pressure too--if only for an evening.
Like the millions of white rural workers who have been dispossessed from their livelihoods and now turn to opioids to self-medicate, these students are reacting to a very real breakdown in the socioeconomic contract of the country. They may be young, they may be at prestigious universities, and their opportunities might be marginally better. But they still experience genuine despair.
Ms. Carrick has put the mental health statistics and social factors right at the center of her piece. She makes the connections obvious. And still commenters will blame "lack of self esteem" or some other tired canard for this phenomenon. Students are trying to escape, if only for an evening, a system that tells them that they must make all the right decisions, merely to be given the chance at financial security. You would want to escape that pressure too--if only for an evening.
253
Yet today, in the same issue of this same publication, is a lengthy feature telling us that we must give amnesty to 30 million illegal aliens, and allow them to continue to taking our jobs, because "we have to", and any opposition is "race hatred".
Then we wonder "why would anyone have ANXIETY about jobs in the future?"
Then we wonder "why would anyone have ANXIETY about jobs in the future?"
Correction: " . . . financial IN-security."
Many of the readers blame this new generation of students for this negative life on campus. The problem is not the students. The problem is that parents fail to build character on their children and prevent them from growing up before they are on their own. How? Not just because they spoil their children by giving them everything and blocking out reality, but by no longer being good role models themselves. This lack of self control is also the result of Hollywood movies that glorify this kind of college wildness. And it is not just small colleges but big universities as well that promote this kind of behavior with their college football programs. These students are bored, the article states. Then they are not interested in their courses and education. Education itself should be exhilarating. But American culture only promotes education as a necessary obstacle to gain access to success, not as a need that define us as human beings. What's wrong is American culture, not the young. In some European countries that promote education and a culture of the arts, children are given small amounts of wine as they grow up. They then are trained to be civilized responsible adults. The other problem is the availability of too much money given to American students. Most college students now live in luxury apartments and drive new cars. We need to go back to a culture that promotes self-restraint and self-control. Limited material resources used to be part of a proud student life.
28
Colleges are boring because they are not academically challenging. Practically everybody can get a good if not great grade at no effort, even at tough subjects such as math and science. If education was truly education (humans love to compete and show their "worth"), these phenomena would definitely not be mainstream. The only competition I see going on in US colleges at this point is outdoing each other in offering luxurious amenities to 18 year olds so that their parents can brag about their own economic status.
1
Spoiled materially -- but also controlled and relentlessly driven on a narrow path to perfect grades, perfect extra curricular activities, perfect SAT scores and then the perfect college, followed by the perfect internships and then the perfect high level career that the parents can (on all these counts) BRAG ABOUT ENDLESSLY to their friends and colleagues.
This perfect child becomes an avatar for the parent's own desires -- either to emphasize "the parent did everything right!" or sometimes, that the parent wants to make up for things lacking in the parent.
It has resulted in a generation of little millennial robots, all clacking lockstep into their positions in Ivy League colleges, and corporate internships.
When I was at college, I lived in an old dorm with concrete cinderblock walls (painted GREY), ancient banged up furnishings and meals of "mystery food" in the cafeteria. I walked everywhere. Nobody owned their own car!
My niece graduated recently....by sophomore year, she was living in a 3 bedroom TOWNHOUSE condo with 2 friends...she had her own brand new Toyota Corolla -- the townhouse was newer & fancier than my own home, with every amenity (stainless appliances, granite counters). She had her own 55" HDTV, and of course, it was beautifully furnished. She was living like a prosperous executive at age 19! what is there to strive for, after you'd been handed the lifestyle of a successful middled aged exec when you are a teen at college?
This perfect child becomes an avatar for the parent's own desires -- either to emphasize "the parent did everything right!" or sometimes, that the parent wants to make up for things lacking in the parent.
It has resulted in a generation of little millennial robots, all clacking lockstep into their positions in Ivy League colleges, and corporate internships.
When I was at college, I lived in an old dorm with concrete cinderblock walls (painted GREY), ancient banged up furnishings and meals of "mystery food" in the cafeteria. I walked everywhere. Nobody owned their own car!
My niece graduated recently....by sophomore year, she was living in a 3 bedroom TOWNHOUSE condo with 2 friends...she had her own brand new Toyota Corolla -- the townhouse was newer & fancier than my own home, with every amenity (stainless appliances, granite counters). She had her own 55" HDTV, and of course, it was beautifully furnished. She was living like a prosperous executive at age 19! what is there to strive for, after you'd been handed the lifestyle of a successful middled aged exec when you are a teen at college?
1
Most young people still live in an environment before college where their families exercise some control over their behavior and activities, although much less so than in earlier generations. If they leave home to attend college, however, they suddenly enter a world where no one monitors their daily routine.
When I entered college in the mid-60s, I observed students who treated the university experience as an opportunity to party. Professors rarely took roll, and outside of class no adult kept track of them. Both teachers and administrators implicitly assumed that, if the student belonged in college, he would govern his life in a way that ensured his success. Immaturity, however, does not prove the absence of academic potential.
Our society's emphasis on individualism creates obstacles to an intelligent debate about how to improve this situation. Generation after generation, we continue to waste human potential because of a refusal to recognize that a 17 or 18 year-old kid is not an adult.
When I entered college in the mid-60s, I observed students who treated the university experience as an opportunity to party. Professors rarely took roll, and outside of class no adult kept track of them. Both teachers and administrators implicitly assumed that, if the student belonged in college, he would govern his life in a way that ensured his success. Immaturity, however, does not prove the absence of academic potential.
Our society's emphasis on individualism creates obstacles to an intelligent debate about how to improve this situation. Generation after generation, we continue to waste human potential because of a refusal to recognize that a 17 or 18 year-old kid is not an adult.
10
That is exactly what happened at my college in the mid 1980s. 17 and 18 years old is way to young to live away from home, when most children have lived a very sheltered existence under their families watchful eye. I think a gap year or living at home for a few years and going to community college might be a better route. In the 1980s, the small private school I went to in PA, was like Animal House, free flowing alcohol, drugs, sexual assaults. I am really scared for my sons to go to college in a few years....I do not consider it a safe environment for a 17 or 18 year old. The administration at this school did absolutely nothing to stop this out of control atmosphere. I was in absolute shock when I got in college and saw what was going on. I am sure things have changed...however, we were under no stress as the economy was very strong at the time. I think there were just to many sheltered children living away from their homes for the first time.)
1
> Our society's emphasis on individualism creates obstacles to an intelligent debate about how to improve this situation.
Individualism is based on reason, not subjectivism. See The Fountainhead ,Ayn Rand.
Individualism is based on reason, not subjectivism. See The Fountainhead ,Ayn Rand.
It saddens me that no one, including the college administrators who might be expected to do so, reads John Henry Newman's Idea of a University anymore. Colleges market their "reputation" (a.k.a the status conferred by admission) and the college experience, and parents and prospective students are suckered into buying it, often at excessive and irrational cost given the value received. The university itself is fueling a mistaken notion that its education is about career advancement, that it is basically analogous to a trade school education for white collar workers, but with (supposedly) better connections and stronger financial prospects. I can't imagine a more joyless learning experience. If I'd obsessed about where I was learning as opposed to what I was learning, I'd probably be drinking to escape too.
I feel fortunate that none of my most memorable college experiences have anything to do with drinking, A heated discussion about whether Fear of Flying was worthy of inclusion in a 20th century lit course. Seeing the modern parallels in my ancient history course. Going for a couple of beers with my classmates and professor after a 3 hour seminar on international politics just so we could keep talking. Challenging my own beliefs in the course of writing a paper about a book, an historical event, or an idea.
I loved my out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere state school.
I feel fortunate that none of my most memorable college experiences have anything to do with drinking, A heated discussion about whether Fear of Flying was worthy of inclusion in a 20th century lit course. Seeing the modern parallels in my ancient history course. Going for a couple of beers with my classmates and professor after a 3 hour seminar on international politics just so we could keep talking. Challenging my own beliefs in the course of writing a paper about a book, an historical event, or an idea.
I loved my out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere state school.
16
With today's 21 drinking age professors can't go out for a couple of beers with their undergraduate students. Perhaps that is part of the problem.
1
It still happens! As faculty, though, we are constantly fighting against a rhetoric that college is essentially high-grade vocational training...
Name a country with a red, white and blue flag that looks like a collapsing soviet empire, complete with greedy oligarchs, massive military machine, police state surveillance system, corrupt government bureaucracy, decaying infrastructure, academic apparatchiks, impoverished working class, rigged elections, derivative art, passe music, and a propaganda press?
69
But nobody wants to see what should be plain. One mindless nut talks about making America great again, the more viable candidate pretends that it still is. Neither wants to seize the status quo, shake it up, and try to do a re-boot. The current state of affairs is the source of much individual and collective unhappiness.
1
A lot of candidates for that one...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_White_and_Blue
Hope you're not picking on the Cook Islands.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_White_and_Blue
Hope you're not picking on the Cook Islands.
Katherine - thank you for attempting to expose the continuation of alcohol/drug abuse on college campuses. As a 65 year old woman who as abstained from alcohol for 29 years - I have seen, in my life, over and over again, the destruction that abuse of alcohol causes. I read a column in this paper years ago about our country's embrace of alcohol and how much as a society we are denial about the devastating effects on our population - effects that travel for generations. To me, what you have written about, is either a severe lack of education about binge-blackout drinking, or a propensity, conscious or not, to die. So very sad! Unfortunately, as smart as elite students are today, emotionally, they are fragile and immature - lacking in the responsibility and good decision making that comes with adulthood. So - they learn some very very hard lessons. I hope and pray that we are not talking about the majority.
41
As a the parent of a student who goes to a rural campus where drinking, "blackout" culture is normal I have a few statements and questions.
1) In real life, this is not normal and there is no excuse.
2) If these kids use “blacking out” as an excuse for bad behavior, that’s a real problem.
3) Could this fraternity/sorority culture contribute to this behavior?
4) Why do we let this go as a rite of passage as I hear it called?
5) How can girls even keep up with boys (size matters) and why do they do this?
6) Have we children so insecure that they feel they have to follow along in this behavior?
7) Are we that shallow that talking about “how drunk we got” and the next party is all we can do at our institutions of higher learning?
When I visited the campus for Parents Weekend I saw parents joining the students at the frats, which is an implicit ok for this culture. I don’t think drinking to excess is helpful to students. For many it’s the start of a lifetime of anesthetism. Yes, we put too much pressure on these students. We encourage them to compete with each other, when success comes to all who collaborate. But, until, we as parents show them that drinking to excess is not normal, and quite possibly the start of a lifetime of it, it will continue.
1) In real life, this is not normal and there is no excuse.
2) If these kids use “blacking out” as an excuse for bad behavior, that’s a real problem.
3) Could this fraternity/sorority culture contribute to this behavior?
4) Why do we let this go as a rite of passage as I hear it called?
5) How can girls even keep up with boys (size matters) and why do they do this?
6) Have we children so insecure that they feel they have to follow along in this behavior?
7) Are we that shallow that talking about “how drunk we got” and the next party is all we can do at our institutions of higher learning?
When I visited the campus for Parents Weekend I saw parents joining the students at the frats, which is an implicit ok for this culture. I don’t think drinking to excess is helpful to students. For many it’s the start of a lifetime of anesthetism. Yes, we put too much pressure on these students. We encourage them to compete with each other, when success comes to all who collaborate. But, until, we as parents show them that drinking to excess is not normal, and quite possibly the start of a lifetime of it, it will continue.
86
And as parents, quit putting the pressure on your children to be super-successes. It starts from little on...the piano recital where Janie must perform flawlessly and then switch to her violin virtuosity; the Little League game where Johnny must become the top hitter/starter for the team.
In our neighborhood, filled with lots of elementary school children and woods and large yards to play in, nary a child is to be found on weekends or after school. They are either in the house tethered to their electronic "toys" or being ferried from one activity to another. It will be another lost generation.
Worse yet, they watch their parents anesthetizing their stressful lives with alcohol or marijuana.
Upper Middle Class Grandma/Observer
In our neighborhood, filled with lots of elementary school children and woods and large yards to play in, nary a child is to be found on weekends or after school. They are either in the house tethered to their electronic "toys" or being ferried from one activity to another. It will be another lost generation.
Worse yet, they watch their parents anesthetizing their stressful lives with alcohol or marijuana.
Upper Middle Class Grandma/Observer
3
I agree with you 100 percent. As parents, we need to look at our behaviors and ask how we are contributing to this mindset. There are so many ways we implicitly endorse this behavior with our actions (like the fraternity party example you gave) while our words say something else. Which speaks louder?
Dear author, blackout IS going away. Drinking culture has become so perverted, and so associated with rape, that normally spineless college admins can no longer ignore it. Beware the solution, a return to in loco parentis of the 1950s. Parents of Millennials will love and endorse it.
12
Sorry, but it sounds like the kids need some guidance and rules until they are mature enough to govern themselves.
Alcohol is poison. Allowing the prevailing myth around alcohol to be glorified is a killer dumb idea, no matter how high your SAT's might be.
24
I was MIT class of 1975. The economy was "better" but MIT was still really stressful. There was a lot of pot, but almost no booze. I remember very little drinking on campus. There were informal parties with marijuana but either no alcohol or one bottle for an entire group. I remember one student who was rumored to take a lot of LSD but I can't remember anyone with a reputation for alcohol consumption.
Right now, the MBTA Red Line, which runs from Harvard Square, has advertisements for alcohol delivered to any location.
Right now, the MBTA Red Line, which runs from Harvard Square, has advertisements for alcohol delivered to any location.
36
You don't mention which scenario is 'better.' How non-competitive of you!
"Blackout" is very common among young drinkers and is associated with sexual assault and exploitation. Alcohol currently has a warning to women of childbearing age that the substance can harm fetuses. Perhaps the warning label should also highlight the serious risks of sexual abuse and exploitation to the drinker, and the risks of incarceration and being labeled a sex offender to the potential perpetrator, whose judgement will also be affected by the substance.
29
I think that girls often drink to blackout because they want a sexual tryst but need the liquid courage and want no guilt or insecurity during the act. I could be wrong. Boys are just dumb so we do everything as competition and to see how "manly" we are.
As a father to a daughter, I hope she will understand the enormous risks involved in binge drinking, especially the fact that heavily intoxicated sex is often unprotected, plus unenjoyable for both parties. Not like I have experience or anything...
As a father to a daughter, I hope she will understand the enormous risks involved in binge drinking, especially the fact that heavily intoxicated sex is often unprotected, plus unenjoyable for both parties. Not like I have experience or anything...
33
You are her father. It is your responsibility to teach and guide her, maturely and intelligently, about alcohol and about sex.
And if you have a son, I hope you explain that a girl who drinks, to excess or otherwise, is not a willing partner in sex and her drinking is not an invitation.
And if you have a son, I hope you explain that a girl who drinks, to excess or otherwise, is not a willing partner in sex and her drinking is not an invitation.
14
Could be wrong and are, in most cases, wrong.
Young women overdrink, often, because it is assiduously pressed on them (by young men, guess why), and because they want to be cool and fit in. They also want to numb themselves from the almost unbearable constant internal and external judgements of the way they look, dress, speak, and act. Imagine trying to walk that razor edge of being seen as "beautiful and friendly" without being "slutty" or "ball-breaking" or "a hag". Try to imagine it. There is no way to win that game, just different ways of losing. Add the pressure to succeed academically. Stir!
Young women overdrink, often, because it is assiduously pressed on them (by young men, guess why), and because they want to be cool and fit in. They also want to numb themselves from the almost unbearable constant internal and external judgements of the way they look, dress, speak, and act. Imagine trying to walk that razor edge of being seen as "beautiful and friendly" without being "slutty" or "ball-breaking" or "a hag". Try to imagine it. There is no way to win that game, just different ways of losing. Add the pressure to succeed academically. Stir!
3
How sexist. Girls drink to have sex guilt free and boys will be boys? Seriously?
1
I've been associated with higher education for 40 years as a student and professor. Sorry, but I don't buy many of your assumptions though I certainly recognize that some campuses have a binge culture that encourages excessive drinking and all that goes with it starting Friday of each week. Most of us know which schools these are based on their reputations. We all need to avoid them like a plague! Voice your concerns and Write letters to college officials and others, telling them why you (or your children) do not plan to go there. If you do make a mistake and start there, stop and discuss the implications and options before its too late. If you can't find a healthier group of friends or ways to manage your stress and off time, then pack your bags and get out of dodge fast. Then follow up with letters to college officials and their boards telling them your reasons AND that you will name them and their destructive binge culture as often and as long as you can. There are many healthier and more enjoyable ways to prevent and manage stress -- sports, volunteering, hiking clubs, etc. Congrats to you for getting out!!
41
Wholeheartedly disagree with this comment. This lifestyle happens at so many different kinds of schools - Ivy League (both in Greek life and out of it- some of those not in Greek life partake in this behavior in a less "monitored" setting, which makes it even more dangerous), small liberal arts schools, state schools, etc. Based on my experience, I would argue that this kind of behavior might even be less prevalent (or at least, less dangerous) at the well-known "party schools." Those schools often have large, successful football or basketball programs - aka something to do on the weekends besides drinking to oblivion. Sure, lots of drinking goes on before a Big 10 sports game, but it isn't drinking so much for the fun of blacking out. "Avoiding those schools like the plague" isn't possible - they are everywhere, thought students certainly don't need to black out or drink themselves into oblivion to have fun. But denying the existence of this widely pervasive culture is incorrect.
8
Why don't you buy the assumptions? They ring true to me. Binge drinking is the norm at so many colleges and has been for at least a generation. Students drink to black out. Party on. Happens daily.
2
I'm with SG - the culture is prevalent among colleges and universities in general. And leaving your school for a new one (which will almost certainly have a binge drinking culture) is easier said than done.
1
As a professor of communications at a state university "party school", I had my senior class develop an anti-binge drinking ad campaign. It even received funding from Harvard and ran in newspapers and on sides of buses. During the research leading up to the campaign, it came out that every one of the women in the class had experienced some type of unwanted sexual encounter while drunk. Every male had been involved in binge drinking and had behaved badly. A few months after the campaign ran, one of the students was killed while skateboarding high on booze and drugs. Meanwhile, beer companies sponsor fraternity rush weeks where the vast majority of students are underage. It's insane. It's dangerous. It' not fun.
328
You're a professor of communications yet you still insist upon the tired and misleading refrain of 'booze and drugs'. Booze IS a drug which you are failing to communicate.
When she was still very young, as she would herself admit these days, one of the worst behaved persons I ever knew when very drunk was the girl who later became my wife.
Because, at the time, I was a goody two shoes, I rarely drank until she and her boyfriend of the time corrupted me.
Booze, being a drug, has a most pernicious effect on many folks of both sexes. But what do I know, not being a communications professor.
When she was still very young, as she would herself admit these days, one of the worst behaved persons I ever knew when very drunk was the girl who later became my wife.
Because, at the time, I was a goody two shoes, I rarely drank until she and her boyfriend of the time corrupted me.
Booze, being a drug, has a most pernicious effect on many folks of both sexes. But what do I know, not being a communications professor.
2
Follow the money. People are making money from this phenomenon of excessive drinking.
"Meanwhile, beer companies sponsor fraternity rush weeks where the vast majority of students are underage"
and the universities let them.
and the universities let them.
Relieved there were no iPhones when we were in college in the late 60's/early 70's.
75
Please don't post an anecdotal opinion about the 21-year-old drinking age being a culprit without at least looking at the research. Since the drinking age went back to 21, teen motor vehicle deaths have fallen dramatically. People who begin drinking later in life have fewer problems with alcohol. Likewise, people who grew up in states that never lowered the drinking age... And no, the Europeans don't do it better--alcohol abuse is just as bad if not worse in Europe.
18
not sure where you get your information that alcohol abuse in Europe is just as bad if not worse, but in any event, this article was about blackout drinking among college aged people, not the population as a whole.
after living for 15s year in 2 cities with sizable college-student populations (Munich and Brussels) I can say, anecdotally, that the problem of binge drinking is much less prevalent than what I experienced on US college campuses (3 different schools for 3 different degrees) and what I've read since leaving the US.
after living for 15s year in 2 cities with sizable college-student populations (Munich and Brussels) I can say, anecdotally, that the problem of binge drinking is much less prevalent than what I experienced on US college campuses (3 different schools for 3 different degrees) and what I've read since leaving the US.
6
@anon: It's hard to argue against the MADD elevator pitch, but someone ought to try. In the '70s, students did not drink hard liquor for the most part, because they didn't have to hide what they were doing by drinking stronger stuff, which is much easier to hide, and frankly, we didn't have the money to buy hard liquor. There wasn't one EMT run for alcohol at my NESCAC college at that time. It is difficult to get drunk to oblivion (and the hospital) on beer and wine. We also had cocktail parties with professors attending: we were dressed up, we learned to socialize like adults, and we enjoyed that tremendously. Anyone who thinks raising the drinking age actually inhibits kids from drinking until they turn 21, is denying reality. For some real information, go to http://www.theamethystinitiative.org
1
WHO: The European Region has the world’s highest levels of alcohol use and the highest levels of alcohol-related harm. Alcohol is one of the Region’s leading causes of ill health and premature death.
http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/disease-prevention/alcohol-use/...
http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/disease-prevention/alcohol-use/...
1
I had a very good friend die at the age of 47 because he started drinking in college and it became a crutch for him. Alcohol completely destroyed his liver. Enjoy yourselves but remember alcohol is a drug and over time it can kill you.
92
In school, I spent countless hours memorizing pointless things I'd never use for anything, and yet no time was ever spent on teaching us probably the most important thing of all: healthy coping mechanisms. So, really, I'm not at all surprised by this article. In fact, when I was in college, I met more than one person who drank with the goal of blacking out. I didn't understand it because I was fortunate enough to have learned a few ways to cope, and taught myself many others. So, to me, doing something like that seemed like unhealthy self-harm, and more potentially dangerous than helpful. Yet, there were so many people who did it. More than anything, I wished somebody would've given these people some skills so that at least they'd have the option of something else. The threat of alcohol poisoning, sexual assault, liver failure, and dying in a car crash should not be an inherent part of the only coping method you have. But, while adding coping mechanisms to lesson plans is a great idea in theory, it's so painfully hard to accomplish. I mean, back when I was in high school, my parents had to opt for a special after-school health class just so we could actually be talked to about safe sex and other topics, which would've been glossed over in the classes during the day. Nobody should have to go the extra mile just to get what they deserve -- especially not children. Every person deserves better than this...
155
100% agreed! Kids to adults today have limited coping mechanism. The demands on them adds tremendous stress and anxiety. Our education institutions from middle school to universities fall short to introduce mandatory curriculum like life skills and character development.
3
In college you are not a child whose hand needs to be held to learn, "healthy coping mechanisms". You should have learned that from your parents.
I
I
5
I couldn't agree with you more.
Ms.Carrick has written a thoughtful,compelling piece. Although the specifics are different, the ritual of alcohol or drug based nihilism she describes has been a staple of college life for a long time. The anomaly here is the intense economic pressure, particularly, if student loans are involved. One sincerely hopes that William Blake's aphorism "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom" applies to the students profiled by Ms. Carrick.
18
"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom." Like all generalisms, including this one, it is of limited value. Many roads go elsewhere. --One.
1
Students did drown their sorrows, but afterwards they didn't go about raping every girl passed out behind a dumpster. In every one of these high profile rape cases the ingredients are all the same -- sex, drugs, and alcohol. Whatever happened to rock and roll?
13
I'm sure there were just as many drunken rapes when I went to college decades ago. They just weren't reported much, because it was assumed that the woman had brought it on herself by drinking, dressing wrong, flirting, going somewhere wrong, or having ever had consensual sex. What did she expect, behaving that way? was the attitude among students and authorities. She was supposed to chalk it up to a learning experience. Heaven knows what the guys learned.
Women were just starting to raise their voices with the shocking feminist idea that they had a right not be raped, even if they weren't being 100% "ladylike."
Women were just starting to raise their voices with the shocking feminist idea that they had a right not be raped, even if they weren't being 100% "ladylike."
3
That was a dramatic and fairly rare case. But drunken hook-up sex between near-strangers? often with regrets or embarrassment? Yes, that is common.
For some women, it is clear they use this kind of intense drinking to rid of inhibitions, which most of us would call "basic common sense" -- so they can act wild and slutty, without feeling shame or hesitation. That kind of behavior is NOW seen as cool and admirable, where past generations may have felt at least some shame or embarrassment.
The men do it too, but women's DISADVANTAGE -- which they ignore and deny -- is that female physiology is simply different. We are smaller and have a higher percentage of body fat and less muscle, and we metabolize alcohol more swiftly. In short, we get drunk faster and on less booze.
But when it comes to blackout drunken hookups -- basically both parties are blotto, so it becomes really difficult to say "who took advantage of whom", when nobody remembers anything about what really happened.
For some women, it is clear they use this kind of intense drinking to rid of inhibitions, which most of us would call "basic common sense" -- so they can act wild and slutty, without feeling shame or hesitation. That kind of behavior is NOW seen as cool and admirable, where past generations may have felt at least some shame or embarrassment.
The men do it too, but women's DISADVANTAGE -- which they ignore and deny -- is that female physiology is simply different. We are smaller and have a higher percentage of body fat and less muscle, and we metabolize alcohol more swiftly. In short, we get drunk faster and on less booze.
But when it comes to blackout drunken hookups -- basically both parties are blotto, so it becomes really difficult to say "who took advantage of whom", when nobody remembers anything about what really happened.
YOur statement "didn't go about raping every girl" is not the least bit germane to the discussion. The percentage of guys who engage in rape is tiny. As it is throughout history. And most women avoid them. That girl at Stanford was not passed out behind a dumpster, an unwitting victim of a passerby. She left the party with a guy she did not know. Responsibility goes both ways.
1
I am surprised that the author doesn't mention alcoholism which is also what is driving some college students to drink to excess.
31
I suspect she didn't mention alcoholism because it isn't yet on the radar of most college students. Many alcoholics can look back and recognize they were addicted--or headed that way--in college, but few college students realize that their "stress relieving" habit is in fact an addiction. Not until one has struggled--and failed--to quit drinking, or has lost jobs, friendships, or financial footing do most alcoholics even consider the idea that they may be addicted. The young adult brain is not a good judge of behavior and consequences, and is even poorer at self-correction. And each one assumes the scary statistics don't or won't apply to her or him. In my psychiatric practice I have treated many students at a highly competitive and prestigious small liberal arts college. Alcohol abuse is the norm, and I see the results daily. My own child enrolled this fall, and I fervently hope that our many conversations (okay, they were largely monologues on my part while my daughter rolled her eyes and insisted she "got the point" and "won't be stupid") about the dangers of alcohol will influence her to steer clear.
5
If these people are actually drinking until they black out - not the same as passing out - it means they ARE alcoholics. Blacking out, which results in actual lost time during which the person was conscious, is a physiological symptom of alcohol addiction.
If you think instagram shots of you kissing the porcelain god is hilarious, wait till the internet features one with your legs in the air. Beware of smartphones and remember you are ladies!
20
In my book, a woman who drinks to excess is no lady.
2
Three words: Assign. More. Homework.
39
That would be even worse! It is adding more stress. They need skills to cope with anxiety and understanding what it means. Not escaping it!
9
They won't do the assignments, and threaten adjucts and assistant profs with vile online evaluation that anyone with internet access can see. There is no cure for stupid, except for good parenting since birth.
3
You do not teach at such a school. We already assign plenty. We need to get real about the real sources of stress among these kids. But administration is generally spineless because doing so would hurt enrollment.
3
This makes no sense: how can a hyper-competitive atmosphere cause blackout drinking? The behavior only makes it more likely that one will fail to compete!
More likely it is the low self-esteem, lack of goals, and lack of good peer examples that is responsible.
Unfortunately, colleges have failed in this regard, as have, apparently, parents and earlier schools.
More likely it is the low self-esteem, lack of goals, and lack of good peer examples that is responsible.
Unfortunately, colleges have failed in this regard, as have, apparently, parents and earlier schools.
244
It was the" good peer examples" who led the way!
5
Yes, colleges have failed to provide their incoming students with the requisite self esteem, lack of goals, etc. And their tuition, room and board are so high, additional stress is created because students do not have enough money to buy a BMW.
2
Unfortunately, too many of our young people have worked hard only to find their life "goals" to be unobtainable, in spite of politicians' assurances to the contrary.
New forms of automation and computerization will make the outlook worse. The government and social planners need to prepare us for these changes.
New forms of automation and computerization will make the outlook worse. The government and social planners need to prepare us for these changes.
4
You're naive. Just because your small group of friends puts themselves at risk by blacking out, it does not mean that it can be excused or is normal. By drinking excessively and not having control of yourself you are risk of being raped or worse.
87
Black outs are an early symptom of addiction. I wouldn't minimize their significance. Passing out and blacking out are not the same thing. Genuine black outs indicate a period of amnesia that will not come back into the conscious mind even when told by others what occurred during the black out. Black outs are the litmus test of most alcoholics who are in recovery. Not being able to predict when they will occur leaves one vulnerable to behaviors prompted by an anesthetized brain. Not a good idea IMO.
207
Thank you for mentioning that. It is very important. Some people here are confusing drinking to the point of passing out -- essentially falling asleep -- to BLACKING OUT.
Blacking out is lost time -- memory loss. And these are uber-healthy, young people 18-23. They should NEVER have memory loss, nor "black-out".
I suspect at the extreme end, some are actually causing brain damage. At the lesser end, they are hurting themselves with doing cruel or stupid things, taking unconscionable risks -- driving drunk! -- and of course, hook-up sex with total strangers, often without birth control or condoms, leading directly to STDs. Something like 2 out of 5 college women already have HPV.
The other risk is touching off true alcoholism -- perhaps controlled or repressed until this point.
Blacking out is lost time -- memory loss. And these are uber-healthy, young people 18-23. They should NEVER have memory loss, nor "black-out".
I suspect at the extreme end, some are actually causing brain damage. At the lesser end, they are hurting themselves with doing cruel or stupid things, taking unconscionable risks -- driving drunk! -- and of course, hook-up sex with total strangers, often without birth control or condoms, leading directly to STDs. Something like 2 out of 5 college women already have HPV.
The other risk is touching off true alcoholism -- perhaps controlled or repressed until this point.
1
Thank you for this comment - people often misuse the term 'blackout,' and it's a dangerous distinction to miss.
1
What immaturity described here. It sounds like yet another symptom of this generation's refusal to grow up and behave like the adults they ostensibly are.
55
They are not adults, they're teenagers. Away from home for the first time, most of them free from helicopter parenting as well. This was a cry for help, can we listen and please not judge?
69
Let's judge. Let's judge the helicopter parenting that contributes hugely to these overgrown insecure young adults. The kids end up feeling incompetent and unnecessary, instead of strong capable contributors to the future of the country.
2
Actually, they are adults, in their 20's. I work at a college and we often refer to the students as the 'kids' and I have to stop myself and say "wait a minute, these are adults not kids". They have to live with what they do and they have to understand that. Their parents can't make it go away.
3
The same as it was 40 years ago...
103
I can confirm this. I wish I could forget the time I volunteered to "chaperone" a frat party at a very prestigious small liberal arts college. This was in the 1970s. I remember in particular a couple of young women dressed in beautiful gowns. They looked like movie stars when they came in. By the end of the evening the gowns were wrinkled, full of spilled drinks, and in one case covered in vomit. The young women were passed out like discarded dolls.
8
No. It is not the same. These kids are programmed by parents and K-12 competition in a way that we were not in the 70s. The mental-health toll is enormous today of the hypercompetitive culture at elite schools.
1
I know, right? Why does this author think she has analyzed something of significance? There is no more or less stress for a student fresh out of high school going to college now than there was forty years ago. Don't excuse this wild behavior as a natural response to stress; it isn't.
4
Turning into an alcoholic during university years, with the possibility of causing long-term (and possibly short-term) brain damage is a dandy skill to take to the job market.
"Blackout" is an even better life skill.
As for stress in college, students would be wise to understand that it usually only gets worse as life goes on. They would be even wiser to find a better way of dealing with their stress before their liver gives out.
"Blackout" is an even better life skill.
As for stress in college, students would be wise to understand that it usually only gets worse as life goes on. They would be even wiser to find a better way of dealing with their stress before their liver gives out.
296
Their major form of stress is chasing artificial goals in a completely unneeded life. If they had an important role as part of society, and knew why they needed to learn the material they're supposed to be learning, they would not be drinking.
4
Stress in college:. It is present but college students need to adjust and place in perspective. How about our young soldiers walking or riding where IEDs , snipers, and enemy mortars reside. THAT is stress.
2
Miss Carrick is only about 20 now, so her perspective on this is barely existent. And she quit that hard-drinking rural school after just a year -- I suspect her disdain is about more things she didn't like in rural America (what? only an Applebee's & bowling?) than just the drinking.
She doesn't tell us what kind of drinking is going on at her new, presumably more hip and urban college.
She doesn't tell us what kind of drinking is going on at her new, presumably more hip and urban college.
When did college students NOT "drown themselves" in WHATEVER varieties of alcohol they had at hand?
31
True, but planning it so you will black out? Very disturbing.
44
I admit during my college time 40 years ago I got quite drunk quite a few times but never with the stated intention of drinking so much I passed out. I never considered myself so "stressed out" that I had to drink myself into oblivion---that is the difference and it is a critical one.
Drinking and drugs have always been part of the college experience even if you chose not to participate---a kind of coming of age ritual. But modern college students seem desperately determined to blot the world out with alcohol and render themselves unconscious---not a good thing.
And the campus rape problem is a direct result of this very pervasive and reckless attitude towards alcohol. The real problem on campus is not rape but serious alcohol abuse. They go hand in hand. In all the high profile campus rape cases alcohol was a major factor. If the problem has become so serious that fraternities trash hotels causing thousands of dollars in damage and women are raped I think it's time for students, parents and schools to stand up and seriously address the ongoing problem of alcohol abuse on campus. I am not advocating banning alcohol but a policy that encourages and promotes more measured and careful use of alcohol. Maybe the fraternities and sororities would be a good place to start. They are supposed to be the up and coming future leaders so I think they should get some practice and start leading by example.
Drinking and drugs have always been part of the college experience even if you chose not to participate---a kind of coming of age ritual. But modern college students seem desperately determined to blot the world out with alcohol and render themselves unconscious---not a good thing.
And the campus rape problem is a direct result of this very pervasive and reckless attitude towards alcohol. The real problem on campus is not rape but serious alcohol abuse. They go hand in hand. In all the high profile campus rape cases alcohol was a major factor. If the problem has become so serious that fraternities trash hotels causing thousands of dollars in damage and women are raped I think it's time for students, parents and schools to stand up and seriously address the ongoing problem of alcohol abuse on campus. I am not advocating banning alcohol but a policy that encourages and promotes more measured and careful use of alcohol. Maybe the fraternities and sororities would be a good place to start. They are supposed to be the up and coming future leaders so I think they should get some practice and start leading by example.
15
"When did college students NOT "drown themselves" in WHATEVER varieties of alcohol they had at hand?"
Fifty five years ago.
"The times they are a-changin'."
Perhaps the times will continue to change, in future for the better.
Fifty five years ago.
"The times they are a-changin'."
Perhaps the times will continue to change, in future for the better.
1