[adpiucf]

I think just being that age in general delays real world maturity. College is a bubble. I think it should be treated less as the culmination of your high school achievements and more as a cushion to embrace failure. I'm not saying you should try to fail every class, but it's ok to try something new (as long as it is legal) or to not succeed at something. I think I speak for many of us when I say that I've learned more from my mistakes than my successes.

That also being said, I think a lot of young people would benefit from a gap year between high school and college. Whether you work or travel, or have a combination of both, I think it would be extremely beneficial for the average traditional 18-year old to get up off his arse, work to pay for his own rent without mom and dad's help, and to take that once in a lifetime chance to spend a month abroad taking in cultural highlights or volunteering with a third world country, a rural Appalachian community or an inner city Head Start program. I think he'd come into college with a few missed hours at work because he slept through his alarm, and the memories of the repercussions, a few hangovers and the memories of the repercussions, and a few dissapointments, rejections and setbacks and the satisfaction of knowing the sky wouldn't fall because someone didn't want whatever you were selling. And possibly, yes, some maturity. I think he'd take school a little more seriously. I would hope, anyway, that he would have a stronger focus. But that's unpredictable and depends on the person. A year will make some difference, but there is still plenty of maturing to do, not to mention the peer pressure that can influence the most mature and rational person to make some really stupid decisions.

Whether you go straight to college or take time off, you have unreal expectations. Kids in the US have unreal self-esteem because they have been built up and told how great they are by their family, friends and teachers. Not everyone can be the valedictorian, but it seems more and more schools don't want to reward the hardest workers on actual merit. Everyone needs to feel like a winner! There have to be losers, too-- you have to have some incentive to want to try harder.

And we're so confident that we're the best because everyone has told us our entire lives that we're the best-- And we still can't do math because we're too busy congratulating ourselves on winning a blue ribbon at the pony rides at the petting zoo. The trouble is that everyone else who rode the pony rides got the same damn blue ribbon. I like Ricky Bobby's take on things: "If you're not first, you're last," right? Ranking matters. There can't be 100 people in a group of 100 who are first place winners.

We may not be mature at 18, but we sure are confident.

So no, college doesn't necessarily delay real world maturty. Age delays real world maturity. College helps soften the blow a little bit.

And if I ever have kids, they're taking a year off to attend the School of Hard Knocks so that when college comes around, they get more out of it. I wish I had.