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Also this issue: Vindicated The Job Confessions of a Media CEO |
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August 22-28, 2002
loose canon
The first step in conquering a drinking problem, most would agree, is to admit that you’ve got a problem, and maybe even go public with it. But apparently there are some doctors in the American Medical Association (AMA) who’d rather keep dangerous drinking a secret.
A panel from the AMA recently chided The Princeton Review for continuing to publish their ranking of "Top Party Schools" in their annual "Best Colleges" guide. The AMA claims that this list is "misleading" and gives new students a "skewed" perception about "partying" on campus.
The AMA's Richard Yoast says the college ranking service ought to be "ashamed to publish something for students and parents that fuels the false notion that alcohol is central to the college experience."
This list, says Yoast, contributes to binge drinking and ought to be dropped.
The Princeton Review evaluates colleges in over 60 categories, both academic and social, including one ranking of what they call "Stone-Cold Sober Schools." But it seems that these good doctors from the AMA believe that students and parents will essentially ignore everything else in the annual fat almanac, and that the mere mention of "partying" automatically glorifies binge drinking.
This makes no sense on several counts. With tuition and board reaching $30,000 or more a year, it seems likely that students and parents would tend to avoid schools which they think would be a waste of time and money.
And, further, the evidence is that schools which do make it onto the list of big drinkers do everything they can to get off. This is not an honor that any school wants. Like a drunk, once confronted with the truth, the schools do start to reform.
So why would the AMA object to students, parents and schools learning the truth about problem drinking on campus?
Nobody disagrees that binge drinking in college is a major problem, accounting for 1,400 deaths and tens of thousands of sexual and other assaults on campuses yearly. And most will concur that problem drinking on campus represents only the tip of a mountain of misery caused by drunkenness in the general population.
But by the same curious logic, the AMA might not want us to know which states and cities have drinking problems. And beyond that, scientists should stop releasing research results on alcohol and drug abuse because ordinary people might possibly misuse the information.
Censor the undisputed truth?
Sorry, docs, we need a second opinion.
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