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Editorial
June 2, 2008
Penn State Behrend freshmen will start their college careers early this summer, even before stepping on campus.
Alcohol education is on the class schedule, and this long overdue instruction should be included in the core curriculum of every college freshman.
Pennsylvania State University trustees passed a resolution requiring all incoming freshmen systemwide to take AlcoholEdu for College, an online education program about alcoholic beverages and their effects on the body.
Alcohol-related problems for students at University Park have become a source of concern and embarrassment for trustees and other university officials. AlcoholEdu for College is a result of searching for some answers.
Early alcohol-education instruction on college campuses is an excellent idea. While various rites of passage occur during college years, including learning to live in an environment that includes drinking, behavioral problems have created the need for action.
An 18-year-old freshman needs to be able to walk into his or her new life with a better understanding of the responsibilities that come with drinking.
The instruction starts with a survey that measures students' attitudes toward alcohol, as well as their knowledge of alcohol.
The program takes students through topics such as how drinking beer affects brain development and learning; how drinking affects blood-alcohol content; state-by-state laws about alcohol; and more basic information about what risks students face by drinking.
Behrend students can log in and out of the program whenever they want to, and finish the course at their convenience with no extra charge.
We like the tone of AlcoholEdu for College. There's no preaching or temperance lectures.
"It doesn't tell students what to think or what to do," Erika Tower, director of marketing and communications for Outside the Classroom, said about the program. The goal is to "help students make better decisions, and decisions that will keep them safe."
AlcoholEdu is required at more than 500 colleges nationwide, including at two other colleges in the Erie region, Mercyhurst College and Allegheny College. Gannon University and Edinboro University of Pennsylvania should consider taking part.
This is a terrific program because it helps students learn about drinking before they end up learning the hard way.
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