Earlier this week, hundreds of freshmen were probably scrambling to finish Part II of AlcoholEdu, the program used by Vanderbilt and other colleges to inform students about the dangers associated with irresponsible drinking. But how much does this flawed program actually influence students’ decisions?

AlcoholEdu is the “flagship product” of Outside the Classroom, a company “founded to address epidemic-level public health issues affecting education, corporate, and government institutions.” Over 450 colleges use this online program in an attempt to educate incoming freshmen about the negative consequences of excessive alcohol use, and three-quarters of a million people have completed the program nationwide.

AlcoholEdu is divided into two portions. Students must complete Part I, which includes a survey about drinking habits, facts about alcohol, methods to consume alcohol safely and self-evaluation of long-term goals, before arriving on campus. After a couple of weeks of experiencing college life, students get a brief refresher course of Part I and fill out another survey detailing their new opinions and habits concerning alcohol.

Obviously, Vanderbilt and other colleges that force students to participate in drinking prevention programs have good intentions. Hard partying can lead to legal issues, hospitalization and even death, and students need to realize making stupid decisions can land them in serious trouble.

However, mandating students waste three hours of their lives filling out surveys, listening to facts and taking an exam is really not an effective way to change their alcohol use.

Most students do not care about the program, seeing it as a waste of time.

“I barely paid attention,” said freshman Will Colmer. He also said the program did nothing to change his ideas about drinking.

Students who don’t drink do not see value in the program either.

“It’s the most ridiculous program ever conceived,” said freshman Jimmy Moore.

Forcing anyone to do anything does not usually have a positive impact. Vanderbilt’s insistence on student completion of AlcoholEdu may actually cause them to ignore important information. Students just want to finish the program and take the test; they do not really care about the program’s message.

Also, students cannot apply some aspects of AlcoholEdu to real situations. For example, the program stresses the importance of keeping blood alcohol concentration in mind, but monitoring blood alcohol concentration is difficult unless someone has a Breathalyzer that can actually test BAC. I think it’s safe to assume most people don’t carry a Breathalyzer around with them.

Why does it matter what parts of the brain alcohol affects? A person may know what part of the brain alcohol affects, but this knowledge does not have tangible value. Simply knowing that drinking affects the hypothalamus, for example, does not magically protect anyone.

Though AlcoholEdu provides mostly useless information, there are some positive aspects to the program. It provides useful techniques that people can use to avoid blacking out and drives home the fact that alcohol affects people in different ways.

In addition, the program tells people how to deal with intoxicated individuals.

“The stuff about dealing with drunk people was pretty good,” said freshman Maggie Wilson.

But most of the useful information on AlcoholEdu is really just common sense. And no matter how hard this institution tries, it cannot teach people common sense. People gain insight from real-life experience, not a three-hour computer module.

No matter how many scary statistics well-meaning drinking prevention programs throw at college students, it is not going to significantly diminish instances of irresponsible drinking.

Drinking is woven into the fabric of college life; it’s almost impossible to avoid. It’s understandable the administration wants to protect students and ensure their academic success, but the decision to drink responsibly is a personal choice. Most people are steadfast regarding their decision to drink or not drink, and programs like AlcoholEdu are not going to change their minds one way or the other.

—Aimee Sobhani is a freshman in the College of Arts and Science.