Teenage drinking

Underage teenagers have been experiencing a stage of drinking too much alcohol in the past year. The average is 44 bottles of wine or 177 pints of beer in a year. Drinking is leading to a health problem that is concerning. The NHS is receiving more cases of teenagers half of which are alcohol related.

Early this morning we interviewed students from Brockhill Park Performing Arts College in Hythe.

Emma aged 13
We asked Emma do you drink (alcohol) and why?
Emma replied ‘’yes, because its fun and it makes you feel good about yourself’’.

We then asked do you drink in public places and why?
Emma said ‘’I drink out because I meet with my friends and have fun and they get to share the experience to’’.

We asked Emma do your parents know about you drinking? If so how do they feel about it?
Emma answered ‘’my parents know about me drinking and they don’t want me to because it can be dangerous and I’m too young’’.

Sophie aged 13
We asked Sophie do you drink (alcohol) and why?
Sophie replied ‘’I don’t drink because its bad for you and if you drink at a young age then it can affect you later on in life’’.

We then asked do any of your friends drink?
She answered ‘‘yes, a lot of my friends drink every weekend I feel awkward about it because I’m not drinking but at the end of the day it’s their life and their choice’’.

We then interviewed teachers to see their of point of view.

Sean Spratley
We asked him what do you think of teenage drinking?
He replied ‘’It depends on the situation if a 16 year old is sat with parents eating dinner or at home then its fine, this teaches them to drink responsibly however young children aged 10-16 unsupervised drinking in parks is not acceptable and should be against the law’’.

We then asked Sean have you seen any underage drinking inside or outside of school in the last week?
He answered ‘’Not physically but I’ve seen the evidence in our local park! Bottles, cans left over in the playground that is unacceptable! I have not seen a teenager drink outside or in the street in some time. However since the band on smoking in pubs/clubs more alcohol has move onto the streets with the smokers!

We then interviewed Jane Mountford another teacher at Brockhill.

We asked her do you think the legal drinking age of 18 is acceptable?
She replied ‘’yes, but she would prefer it to be increased to aged 21 like America’’.

We then asked her what is your opinion of underage drinking?
She answered ‘’if it is supervised and moderated it is often ok, other then binge drinking.

Lastly we interviewed the deputy head of Brockhill Charles Joseph.

We asked him have you dealt with any teenage drinking during school?
He replied ‘’yes, in my time but not for a couple of years especially not this year’’.

We then asked do you think its suitable for teenagers to drink and why?
He said ‘’no, not away from the supervision of their parents, because of their health and our culture reputation of binge drinking in the UK, which we need to educate ourselves away from.