| In the United States, educators and legislators regularly announce new incentives and/or crack-downs to stop college students from drinking, as President
Bush's twin daughters recently discovered at a college bar in Texas. "We see drinking as a huge issue, especially with the underage," said Monica Cloud of
the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.
But in Britain and much of Western Europe, student drinking is treated not as a problem but as a normal part of student life. "We treat our students as adults
who run their own lives," explained Laurence Goldman, Oxford's assessor (roughly, dean of students). "It's not our place to ban drinking. . . . It would likely
have the wrong results if we tried." |