Work hard - play hard?

Week 3. Option 1.

"Describe several ways alcohol abuse could impact grades. Do you think it’s possible for students to “work hard and play hard”?"

According to a study in "The BACCHUS Network", abusing alcohol has a very negative impact on students in college. 

Obvious? Perhaps.

Obvious enough for people to take action and make changes? Doubtful.

Its an obvious elephant in the room that college students are widely known for their high levels of partying and alcohol abuse. Its the stereotype many people thing, but don't always voice. How much truth does it hold? And if it holds truth? How much is it actually impacting the ratio of graduates to non-graduates? 

Can a student really work hard and play hard, and be well enough at the end of the day to feel accomplished. Hard to tell. However, I'm going to go ahead and guess- no. Then again, could it depend on our definition of how hard is playing hard and working hard? I think balance is important in everything in life... and if not balance, then at least harmony. Harmony is when everything may not be perfectly balanced, but the things that need to have heavier weight do, and the things with lighter weight do. This allows harmony-- a "just right" amount of everything. Can you be harmonious when playing hard and working hard? When do the two start to affect each other? I think that you can't just be harmonious with this. There is nothing wrong with drinking but you have to think about two things- how will this effect my work tomorrow? and how will this effect my health tomorrow? If both of these questions are honestly answered- the response would equal something related to not over-drinking.

So, up to this point I have just been stating my opinion. How about we look at some facts.

According to "The BACCHUS Network", abusing alcohol effects your grades in more serious ways than we may think. It effects things like memory foundation, abstract thinking, problem solving skills, attention and concentration, and perceptions of emotion. These are all things that, if impaired, can heavily effect a student's performance in college. 

Here is a direct quote from "The BACCHUS Network" showing some raw numbers that leave an impression:

Alcohol use can result in missing class, doing poorly on tests or projects, disciplinary issues, or other problems.
The following statistics show on average, students who drink the most alcohol receive the lowest grades:

• "A" students average 4.21 per week
• "B" students average 6.03 drinks per week
• "C" students averages 7.76 drinks per week
• "D" and "F" students average 9.97 drinks per week