I’m looking to get a degree to better facilitate an exit for myself and significant other from the United States. (Looking at New Zealand, Germany, Ireland) Are online only degrees from the likes of ASU and similar any better or worse than one from in-person universities? (Mechanical or Electrical engineering is the plan)
I think this is a toxic mindset. Do people not consider 18 year old fully formed adults? University is really about learning and then your fit in whatever adult stuff you choose around that.
Correct, your brain is not fully developed until 25-26. Many 18-20 year olds are still visibly children, and they aren’t mature enough to make decisions independently. Although 18 year olds have reached the age of legal responsibility for themselves in our country, we still implement restrictive laws on them, such as not being able to smoke, drink, or open a credit card without a cosigner. In the US, university functions like a rite of passage into adulthood. You enter as a child, and with guidance from older adults and development opportunities given to you, you exit as ready to function as a mature, employable adult.
Which i think is precisely the reason it shouldn’t be like that across other countries. This is very derived from anglo-culture but historically university has been for all ages groups; public education in Europe is the reason people started doing it later, but realistically some people could be doing it earlier and some people shouldn’t be doing it until later in life when they’re more sure of what they want. To me the tragedy of public education is that it holds smart and hardworking kids back until the less motivated ones catch up with them.
The brain i suppose does keeps growing until say midlife, 30s, or 25 (most things keep developing until 25) - this is something doctors believe when I talk to them. But as my above paragraph alludes: some people reach mental maturity faster. I would rather we look at uni as a scholarly pursuit again and detach the societal pressure to engage in hedonism. It (university) would benefit as a system engaged-in by all age groups.
I mean, we can go back. I am in my 30s, and I am in law school. It’s just that, our economy is a high-knowledge, skills-based service economy. Immature kids that don’t know anything are not very employable. In the US, recent high school graduates have a 20% unemployment rate. We just don’t have enough simple work available for all of the people who would prefer it. If you have the intellectual capacity to perform higher skilled work, you are better off doing it than trying to compete in the oversaturated, undercompensated low skill market.