[JDSD]

The vast majority of kids who enter college do so right after high school. They are used to summers off, parents sending tuition checks and allowances for rent/living. There is a misunderstanding in todays youth that college is a social club with the side effect of gaining an education. Few kids choose their school on quality of education, but rather how big the parties are/what the scene is like.

To me this entire subject reeks of #firstworldproblems, and the fact I don't have much respect for the beaten path or the zombies they churn out(referring to a BA). Life after college isn't hard at all. This generation is simply not used to feeling ANY discomfort or pain in their sheltered little lives.

Not going to college and excelling to the point of someone with a degree is not that difficult, though it's more difficult than going to a structured setting to be hand-fed information. (most of college could be condensed into one year study, one year practical)

Working in an electronic graveyard in Ghana at age 13 with no parents seems difficult. It seems in places like this, limits of the human experience are tested everyday in terms of what people can and cannot withstand. Spend some time learning how other people live purely for our convenience, and repeat "Graduating college is a difficult transition from one easy thing to the next easy thing." You'll sound ridiculous.

[peter_l_downs]

    There is a misunderstanding in todays youth that college is a
    social club with the side effect of gaining an education. Few
    kids choose their school on quality of education, but rather
    how big the parties are/what the scene is like.

Source? This seems extremely anecdotal.

    Life after college isn't hard at all. This generation is simply
    not used to feeling ANY discomfort or pain in their sheltered
    little lives.

This is hyperbole and personal opinion presented as fact. HN is not the place for this kind of writing.

[jarek]

> Source? This seems extremely anecdotal.

Source is the darn kids on his lawn.

[001sky]

Asking for "source" on how the world works? LOL

Actually, having street smarts would be anecdoatal;

<because>

Actually having street smarts would be anecdotal.

But this is OK. It's the point of the thread...

[philwelch]

College is wasted on the college aged. I don't think I was ready at 18 and neither were most of the people I went to college with. I suspect a few years of work or national service would do a lot to help young people.