Adulthood deferred

As a follow-up to the news that the NEA endorses raising the high school "dropout age" to 21 (h/t to David Freddoso and The Future of Capitalism), thereby holding their failures hostage and keeping them from full-time employment or job training programs for three years beyond the current maximum sentence, I thought I'd post this letter from the advice columns:

DEAR AMY:

Our son came back to live with us three years ago after completing his PhD. He has living quarters on the lower level of our home. He is 30 years old and we feel he should have some privacy, so he can come and go as he pleases.

He helps his father out around the house when asked, but he does not contribute to the house fund. However, he does buy food every now and then.

We do not need his money so we are comfortable with the way things are financially. The only thing we have asked of him is that when a friend comes over we would like him to introduce the friend to us out of respect.

One solution: Go back to arranging playdates for junior. No doubt the doting parents can scare up a couple of thirty-something MAs or EdDs from the neighbors' basements.

Amy's answer, in part:

Your son may tell dates that the older couple shouting, “Yoo hoo,” from the upper window of his bachelor pad are the caretakers on his modest estate. And you are, in a way.

He might be embarrassed to reveal that he is living with Mom and Dad.

I doubt it. Anyway, what I take away from that vignette is that the "kids" and the nanny state aren't the only ones to blame for gen-whatever's loss of interest in adulthood.

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