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Virginia Tech has cracked down a bit on underage student drinking. A new policy has been put in place this semester which requires school officials to contact a student’s parents whenever the underage student is caught with alcohol. The change in policy comes after much debate, and people are divided over the policy.
Underage drinking at colleges is a growing problem, despite the efforts of colleges, parents, and authorities. Virginia Tech and other schools with the same views are hoping that by getting parents more involved, colleges and universities can reduce the number of alcohol-related injuries, crimes, and deaths among their students. School officials at Virginia Tech will now call or send a letter to parents the first time their child under 21 is caught drinking, drunk, or in the possession of alcohol.
Parents Want to Know
For the most part, parents are happy about the change. Many parents have been frustrated by the lack of communication over matters of substance abuse with their child’s college. Most parents want to know about their child’s alcohol abuse before something serious happens. Many parents still have a close relationship with their college children, and many are even paying for their kids’ education. Parents think they have a right to know what their child is up to.
Against the Policy
Other colleges are not so quick to offer this service to parents. Some colleges have a more lenient policy about notifying parents. According to administrators at many of these schools, alcohol violations are not routinely reported to parents because college students should be treated like adults. The view on this side is that college age students are old enough to make decisions for themselves. However, in recent years, college students have obviously been making the choice regularly to use alcohol and binge drink.
Many students, naturally, are also against the new policies, saying college students’ parents shouldn’t be brought into matters that happen at school. For many students, having their parents find out about trouble they’ve gotten in may be a real deterrent. Apparently, kids do actually care what their parents think. Schools have found that more students are concerned about telling their parents about getting busted for underage drinking than they are about the legal consequences for it.
Schools Working with Parents
Underage and binge drinking on college campuses has gotten out of hand. It seems that more students are at school to party and drink than to get an education. Schools like Virginia Tech are taking some first steps to reverse the trend of college drinking. Early intervention is important to keep these students from a long struggle with alcohol abuse or alcoholism, and notifying parents may help. Whether students like to think so or not, their parents care about them, probably more than anyone, and are willing to do what it takes to straighten their kids out. Parents, however, may not know the west way to handle their grown kids’ problem drinking, so some schools even provide parents with educational tools to help them talk to their kids in the most effective way.
Sources
Lynchburg-area colleges vary on alcohol policies
Tech notifies parents about student alcohol offenses
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