teach about responsible alcohol consumption?
Teaching students about responsible alcohol consumption is not going to be accomplished over a two to four week stay in Spain. Whether European high school students are “more responsible” when it comes to drinking alcohol is also a stereotype. When I was teaching in German schools I saw my share of drunken teenagers – on field trips, in pubs, etc. I would certainly not hesitate to deny permission to German teenagers, who are not allowed to drive automobiles until they are eighteen, any request to take my car for a spin while they are visiting here. It is common for American teenagers to operate a motor vehicle at age sixteen, but I don’t believe that allowing our young guests from Germany to drive while they are in the USA is going to magically make “responsible” drivers of them before they return home. It seems to me to be somewhat cruel to give someone something and then take it away. In fact, if I were an American teenager drinking “deutsches Bier” or a German teenager cruising the
