However, college/universities aren’t so much as about being a school, as to about making connections and giving people an avenue of resources. Whether or not people realize that and take advantage of that is another story. That’s also the difference between a Community College and an Ivy League school, not the information, but the connections to resource they gain. (Resources being other people, or actual equipment/resources)

It gives people a forum to meet, and possibly give them a wider view of the world, without having to search for one. Sure, going to bars/cafes/other social places would give you a forum too, but chances are it will be hit and miss.

Geez, I hole up for Finals, and miss a good discussion=)

By the time me or my siblings left home at ages 17-18 we were each capable of supporting ourselves. We also each pursued further education which our families helped to fund, so I’m not saying that parents should not support their children. I’m simply saying that we need not infantilize people and that I believe it to be perfectly reasonable to expect 18 year olds to be able to support themselves.

You say that at 18 you were “not ready to work [your] ass off at some job.” I began working between half and full time when I was 15.5 years old. Not because I had to, but because I was sick to death of not being able to take some responsibility for my own life. From that point on, I never took more than 1.5 weeks off of work until last month (nearly a decade later) when I was transitioning from one job to another and moving across the country. I loved my menial service jobs when I was a teen. They gave me the opportunity to learn about the real world; to feel like to some degree I was supporting my own wants and needs.

I ask: How did your parents raise a child who didn’t have the inherent urge to support and take responsibility for their own needs and wants? How do so many parents today raise children who forever expect and demand that others maintain them? I don’t expect that you are in the latter category, but you are one small step away from it. Healthy children want to work, they want to be useful. Somehow we beat that out of them and create a society of driveless drones who consider working for a living to be a required chore instead of a matter of pride.

http://www.violentacres.com/archives/32/drastic-measures

And there is a reason they are called “college kids.” Society doesn’t even allow 18-year-olds to legally drink. And when was the last time you saw some college girls? They look so young! Overhearing their conversations in Starbucks would give you a prime example of their perception of the world (and hurt your brain with the overuse of the word “like”). There are also studies that the brain is still developing into the early 20s… so yes, I believe 18-year-olds are young, inexperienced and still “kids”, sorry you disagree.

I have learned 10X more on my own than I was taught. My biggest frustration was that so often we were taught not what was important but what the teacher knew or made him look good.

As for 18 being “so quick to grow up” we as a society are continually infantilizing our adults by pushing the age at which we expect mature behavior from anyone upward. At this point we don’t really expect maturity from 21 year olds and you know what that lack of expectation means? It means we don’t get it either.

If you were just a kid at 18, you needed parents who actually taught you some life skills.