The case for having the public schools teach our youngsters how to drink.

On the presumption that most young persons who reach driving age do, or soon will, drink alcoholic beverages, a policy is advocated wherein the public schools teach teenagers how to drink, using alcohol within the context of instruction. Parent or PTA groups can sponsor controlled drinking experiments in which the schools administer the testing and research of young persons' reactions to different blood alcohol levels. Police can organize experiments on driving ranges where teenagers could drive after having consumed measured amounts of alcohol, thus becoming aware of the effect of alcohol on reaction times. Parents of children who are likely to drink or are already doing so can serve alcohol to their youngsters in social or cultural situations. The educational system can strive to be less hypocritical and more honest about practices and patterns within a society where drinking is allowed. Teachers can be taught how to drink. A motto for young persons can be "know your drinking limit." Teeagers can be instructed to experiment and to recognize their limits, but only after they have had a solid and formal education in the use and abuse of alcohol. Imagination can be used in teaching teenagers how to drink, involving parents and the community when unconventional approaches are applied. Youngsters can be directly involved in school or community alcohol education programs. Suggestions for education policymakers in order to ameliorate the alarming trend toward undisciplined drinking among juveniles include developing a closer relationship between schools and the community activity patterns of teenagers, employing a positive point of view, encouraging students to help design the alcohol education curriculum, expanding driver education courses in terms of the effects of alcohol on driving ability, and revising the traditional instructional format (30 hr. of classroom and 6 hr. of behind-the-wheel instruction).