Is helicoptering making kids less able to socially adapt to new situations?

[DubaiSis]

I think kids are more open to going far away to school now than maybe they were a generation ago, and that can make for a more challenging time adapting. I went to school about 1 hour away, as did probably 50 kids from my school - to the same university. When 90% of your student population is from within 5 hours of the school and you are within that group, cultural norms are going to be a lot more similar (and thus easier) to what you've grown up with. Plop Midwestern smallish town kid into Bama or NYU or Pepperdine and there are going to be a lot of challenges beyond just education. And vice versa. The kid who grew up at 50th and 5th in New York is going to have a real culture shock and difficulty making friends at Iowa or Texas State or Coastal Carolina.

I'm all for kids expanding their horizons, but possibly they're not being counseled enough on how to adapt to a new environment.