18: old enough to fight in a war but not to drink
Dear editor,
This past week more than 100 college presidents from universities across the country signed a petition urging Congress to consider lowering the legal drinking age from 21 to 18. Known as the “Amethyst Initiative,” the presidents concluded that current drinking laws actually encourage students to use fake IDs, binge drink and engage in other risky behaviors. Undoubtedly these presidents are right! It is time for the United States to face reality. Our federal government doesn’t think 18-year-olds are mature enough to drink alcohol, yet at 18 you can legally buy firearms, get drafted, vote, go to real prison, receive the death penalty, get sued for your actions, or even become a policeman! The United States is supposed to be a beacon of freedom and religious tolerance. However, the only other nations in the world with drinking ages above 18 are radical Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia. So sorry freshmen, sophomores, and many juniors, if you want to drink a beer go to Communist China, party with Fidel in Cuba or move to Iraq. I urge President Hargis to join his colleagues and sign this petition–You should do the same. President Hargis’ Office (405)744-6387.
Lucas Elwell
Business Student Council President
William S. Spears School of Business
Dear editor,
Nobody wants to face the fact that China has been terribly stronger than ever. Most American newspaper and media are discussing China’s women gymnasts cheating in the Olympics, while when I visit the Web site of Xinhua, the official news agency of China, they are discussing Michael Phelps’ hard training. They got surprised when they know Michael keep training every day even in the morning of the Christmas. They try to find some way to help their athletes to swim faster, and to win next time.
Be a graceful loser. That’s all I want to say. Maybe we will lose in Beijing, in this year, but we still have the future.
We complain Beijing’s human right policy.We complain Chinese athlete’s cheating. We complain the judges’ unfairness. But we didn’t complain we might not train our athletes enough. British guys won 16 golds in this Olympics, because they want to perform better in London in 2012. That may explain why China win so many golds this time. But for American, are we going to wait when U.S. host the Olympics again?
It’s time to wake up. We should find the problems of ourselves, the training system, the government support.
I came to this country seven years ago and now I am a citizen. The U.S. attracts me because they always don’t care what others do, they just wanna do best. I have no doubt that we do very well in sports and China cannot compete with us. But I do think it’s time for us to think about how we could do better in next Olympics, not just discuss how others win in this time. Why not put ourself in the second place, and then fight for the No.1?
Takuji Tanaka
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Takuji Tanaka–none of your statements changes the fact that there is plenty of evidence that some of the Chinese gymnasts were not old enough to compete.
yes, quite true.
but he still said something. The chinese women gymnasts’ cheating is not the reason we got no.2 this time.
It may have been the reason we were number 2, there’s no way of knowing. It’s not really a huge concern for me, and I don’t think it’s a huge concern for most Americans–Americans knows that athletes cheat, we’re very familiar with the concept, nothing new here. The fact is, cheating is cheating. Frankly, I don’t think gymnastics is really at the top of anyone’s priority list right now, so, it doesn’t much matter to me. Probably matters more to China than to the U.S., actually.
Lucas and the editor,
“So sorry freshmen, sophomores, and many juniors, if you want to drink a beer go to Communist China, party with Fidel in Cuba or move to Iraq.”
this sentence is a big offense to our OSU international students from these countries. that’s a very bad mistake.