Response to

Should I Stay Or Should I Go? “You’re 18 years old, now move out.” For some teenagers coming of age, this is one of the first things they hear after blowing out candles on there birthday. But is 18 years old to young? I had to make a choice, either move out as soon as possible after finally being able to buy lighters, or stay home for a while and go to college. In the article “Generation Debt” by Anya Kamenetz, the author states that “...five milestones of maturity are: leaving home, finishing school, becoming financially independent, getting married, and having a child” (Kamenetz 148). So as an 18 year old, looking at this list of achievable goals, I have to choose the best possible path for helping me complete everything. I think staying home, living with mom and pop or whoever it is, is the best decision to can make while you’re trying to complete your schooling. If a student has to worry about focusing on paying the bills while trying to focus on what they should do for homework every night, life could get in the way of school. Money doesn’t come easy, and in a tough economy like ours, it’s difficult for someone fresh out of high school to jump on the work force train while trying to focus on getting a better education to possibly help them further themselves in the future. Students should focus on their schooling before everything else, it’s what will help in the future so they can achieve the “five milestones of maturity” previously stated. Staying home for college students is better simply because they will be able to save more not having to pay for living, and will allow for students to focus on themselves and find out what they actually want to do with there life. With a majority of my personal friends being over 18, sometimes even over 21, I have been able to observe what happens with people move out prematurely or before they are done with school. Most students drop out to focus on work so they can pay their bills instead of spending on books and

Cited: Kamenetz, Anya . “Generation Debt”. The Contemporary Reader. Gary Goshgarian. Eleventh Edition. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, 2013. 147-151. Print Grossman, Lev . “Grow Up? Not So Fast”. The Contemporary Reader. Gary Goshgarian. Eleventh Edition. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, 2013. 157-165. Print Healy, Ryan . “Twentysomething: Be Responsible, Go Back Home After College”. The Contemporary Reader. Gary Goshgarian. Eleventh Edition. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, 2013. 181-183. Print