Scouting the Territory (Drinking in College)

As I did some research, I came upon some interesting findings. I came across an article titled, "Understanding Why Students Love 'Getting Wasted' " which talks about why students enjoy drinking. In this article, I discovered that drinking is considered social and collaborative. Students get together to drink and look after each other. I find this interesting because it seems as though privatization has pulled people apart. Privatization isn't in students' best interests but it seems as though people find it easier to conform and essentially "privatize" themselves. They have internal motives and thus, privatization has made people become more interested in preserving their own interests. It's quite funny to see how drinking has the opposite effect. It brings people together and one can argue that there are less internal motives for this. In another article, "College Drinking is Liberating, and a Good Excuse ( in USA Today)," there is another point to be made with the fact that students drink because it gives them "liquid courage." It  gives them the courage to escape reality. With privatization, I feel as though students try to escape reality as well. They try to distract themselves from thinking about the stress related with college. Students attend for-profit schools because they are convenient. It makes obtaining a degree a lot easier for them and the same goes with drinking. Drinking is favorable to students because it helps alleviate their stress. And so, this is why they accept, and actually embrace, it. I was hoping to also find some information about students who don't drink and their reasons for this, but I have yet to find anything. As of now, I think these two articles have helped me focus my interest on why drinking so appealing.

Topic Idea for Research Paper

For me research paper, I am considering discussing the issues with drinking. Let's face it, most students drink at college and find it very enjoyable, but why is this? What makes drinking so appealing? I hope to discover the underlying issues that may perhaps connect with the ultimate issue of privatization. There are things to consider such as the possibility that students drink to alleviate their stress. Students are taking out loans to pay for their education and would rather not think about this. Perhaps drinking helps students to forget and maybe it's one of the main reasons why students find it so enjoyable. Another issue I hope to delve further into is what do students who don't drink do to alleviate their stress. Why are they able to stay away from drinking?Is it because they have no desire to drink or because they have another way that they find to be more beneficial in helping with the stress?