My summer in China revealed many pleasant surprises. After listening to the American media's often damning portrayals of the nation, I thought I would face the most bizarre of cultural norms and a tremendous absence of human rights. But after spending some time there, I experienced neither. Instead, I found that their culture offered many solutions to issues we face throughout this country.
As our Social Security Administration faces impending bankruptcy, we struggle to find a solution. The Chinese do not face a comparable crisis. Social security seems a ludicrous idea when I pitched the idea to my Chinese teacher, she retorted that the government doesn't have that sort of money. To the Chinese, nursing homes seem just as absurd, and cruel. Why not just take care of your parents yourself?
On a long train ride out of Inner Mongolia with other students, we discussed differences in American and Chinese culture with Wei, a corporate analyst from Beijing. As we merrily shared hard alcohol, I explained that the minimum drinking age would hinder and prevent this behavior once we returned to the States. "Twenty-one? So late But in American Pie, aren't all of the students drinking alcohol? And at 18, can't you vote and serve in the military?" Wei was perplexed.
In fact, the entire prohibitionist culture of the United States is foreign to the Chinese. It's not illegal to purchase alcohol at any age, nor is it unlawful to enjoy a beer on the Beijing streets. When the professors at Beijing Normal University came across students playing pong on the school's ping pong tables, they neither frowned upon us nor asked us to stop they asked us how to play.
Is Beijing, China frattier than Hanover, N. H.? In China, having to seek medical assistance after consuming one beverage too many isn't a dilemma, since there is no threat of prosecution for having alcohol in your system.
Last spring, I asked College President Jim Yong Kim if he would follow in the footsteps of his predecessor and sign on with the Amethyst Initiative, a group of college presidents calling for reasoned discussion on drinking age reform.
"I understand the question of the Constitution," he replied, referring to the law's lack of reconciliation with the age of military service and roundabout stipulation of threatening to financially punish states choosing not to enforce the law. "but the law should remain," he continued, citing a supposed correlation between the age minimum and alcohol-related traffic fatalities. Instead, he said he would try to work with students and the local community to reduce alcohol-related incidents. He said his concerns lied with the College and the community, and he would try to fix matters at a local level rather than involve himself in federal matters.
That was this past spring. This summer, columnist Jasper Hicks '12 addressed the dog-and-pony show put on by the Kim administration, asking the essential question of what exactly SPAHRC has been allowed to achieve with the school's alcohol policy ("Task Force Diplomacy," July 7). Certainly his example of the administration's display of unreasoned use of authority in this summer's river-dock debacle allows us to see just how they value students' concerns.
This isn't about kegs. This is about the dire need of the administration to fix its culture of trying to micromanage students' lives, and allowing our future leaders to make responsible decisions not having Safety and Security officers do it for them. I am astonished that of all the places in the world, I would discover a working alternative to the overbearing culture of the administration in the People's Republic of China. But I have faith that Dartmouth's administration can learn a lesson from the rest of the civilized world and understand that trying to restrain our personal lives is simply not working for administrators or students.
At the end of our train ride, Wei asked us for our e-mail addresses so he could add us on Facebook. "Facebook? But I thought that was banned in China!" a student exclaimed."Yes but there are ways around that." Wei grinned sheepishly.
