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The current LSU case is making me think this might be the case. Much drinking/partying often goes on during the freshman year. In some cases, grades may be so adversely impacted, making it difficult to recover.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Any age is too young if USA continues to focus on age segregated babysitting instead of education. Many of my HS groupies are still stuck in HS nearly 50 yrs after. Drinking, drugs, poker nights, broken marriages, irregular work history....
Age 12 -13 is a reasonable age to take on the responsibility of becoming an adult. (Such as apprenticeship and indentured to a skilled trade). Worked for me.
My own kids were ready and in college by age 16. They took on a lot of responsibility prior to college, and worked and paid their own way. They haven't rebelled yet (now age 40).
YMMV, but sending your babysat kid off to a USA babysitting college does not grow them to maturity. That starts many years earlier, at home, or in a REAL boarding school where you are beat into submission.
Military, voting, state laws.... Most rely on parents preparing their kids for real life. No one wants to be the parent you neglect to be.
Completely depends on the student. We weren’t worried at all about our eldest (50 year old in an 18 year old body…..LOL.
But we are terrified about sending our now 16 year old.
Your point is well taken. My older two were more than ready. My youngest daughter needed a few more years to grow up. She had terrible grades after 1 year and I convinced her to drop out for the time being. Took some years off and then went back with a whole different attitude. Slam dunked her studies and is a Registered Nurse now. Every kid is different.
IN GENERAL, I think today's kids are much less mature at 18 than a couple decades ago and more-so before that. Too much stuff given to them. Hardly any responsibility. They're too good for physical labor. It might cut into their cell phone time. There are far fewer kids working jobs through high school and heaven forbid that they get paid less than $15 per hour even though they have little to no experience. After all, they're ENTITLED to it.
Some are, some aren't. What did you expect us to say, OP? It depends on the students and also, the parents. Of course, the many students who aren't into drinking, drugging or wild partying never make headlines, so people seem to assume they don't exist.
Many of my HS groupies are still stuck in HS nearly 50 yrs after. Drinking, drugs, poker nights, broken marriages, irregular work history....
YMMV, but sending your babysat kid off to a USA babysitting college does not grow them to maturity. That starts many years earlier, at home, or in a REAL boarding school where you are beat into submission.
Military, voting, state laws.... Most rely on parents preparing their kids for real life. No one wants to be the parent you neglect to be.
This is be posted on billboards across the USA.
My kids know what is acceptable behavior. I said when they are drunk and out of control, they puts themselves in harms way. There are always going to be bad people who will hurt you if you can't protect yourself. Drunkenness is dangerous. Stranger danger never ends - especially for women.
It's like the 4 University of Idaho students. It's a horrible thing for them and their families and I'm not saying they deserved it. However, their house was unlock, people came in and out at all hours, neighbors filed police complaints on their loud parties, they had no idea who attended their parties, etc. They posted on social media which anyone could follow. It's like watching a slow car wreck. It's horrible to watch, but predictable that something would happen.
That is especially true of kids who are inclined to choose useless college majors.
Fact……we tell ours that we will pay 100% for majors that are needed and appreciated ($) in society that careers can be made from but 0% for blow off majors.
No, 18 years olds are not particularly mature. 18 year olds being on their own is how they develop maturity and begin to gain wisdom, mostly by learning from their mistakes. The smart ones learn from other's mistakes.
Just like marriage and parenthood forces people to become more mature and more responsible.
Even college drop-outs will likely be more mature after college than before, having made adn learned from various mistakes. Not that college is necessary to that process. Any life experience with responsibilities outside Mom's house does that. Army. Work. Anything.
My kids know what is acceptable behavior. I said when they are drunk and out of control, they puts themselves in harms way. There are always going to be bad people who will hurt you if you can't protect yourself. Drunkenness is dangerous. Stranger danger never ends - especially for women.
It's like the 4 University of Idaho students. It's a horrible thing for them and their families and I'm not saying they deserved it. However, their house was unlock, people came in and out at all hours, neighbors filed police complaints on their loud parties, they had no idea who attended their parties, etc. They posted on social media which anyone could follow. It's like watching a slow car wreck. It's horrible to watch, but predictable that something would happen.
Once your kids go off to college, most of us really have little clue to what they’re doing or where they’re going. While some are mature enough to handle this, many are not. We may think are mature and we know what they are doing, but when they get around others, they may be persuaded to do inappropriate or even harmful things, such as drugs or drink excessively,
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