<p>Thank you, NYmomof2. That’s what I would have expected the book to be about.</p>
<p>I have read articles on this before. Kids used to leave school and get a job (or apprenticeship) by age 14. They absolutely had enough book learning for most purposes, now it was time to finish growing up into useful adulthood, among adults. It was only a privileged few who delayed adulthood by attending college, beginning at age 16 or 17. (When my mother was a girl, high school only went up to grade 11.)</p>
<p>Now, in our highly technological society, so much more education is needed, but this also serves to delay the responsibilities of adulthood (yay college fun.)</p>
<p>That’s why I’m a believer in the co-op program, which alternates life in the real world with college semesters or quarters.</p>