Coming of Age

I got to thinking today, while i was texting taylor, and i think it is funny how they tell all high school students that this is the beginning of their lives. I mean average life expectancy is about 80 years old. That means that by the time a high school student graduates at the age of 18 about 1/4 of their life is over.

Does it really take a quarter of a persons life for them to get started? Sure, there are some things you are beginning, like getting a job, finding the "one", moving out of your parents house, but aren't most of a persons belief system set by this point. I don't just mean in a religious sence, but values, morals, some sence of what a person wants, or at least doesn't want, to do with their life should already be acheived.

Who was the person who decieded that all of this should count for nothing more than the building blocks of life?

Honestly, i feel that if we allow children to believe that they don't have to start their lives until after high school we are breeding future generations that will have no reason not to put that time off for an even later date, such as graduating college, or having children. Look at what we have come from, in earlier times, by the age of 18 you would already be married, have a profession, and kids hopefullyon the way. Understandably life expectancy can be used against me on this matter since it was also lower during those days, but i still feel that our generation has let the need for children to "grow up" slip by.