Ah, good old sanctimony. Has it occured to ms. ladidah here that maybe people have different values than she does? I think we fetishize independence at the cost of many other important things. If someone is able to instead of spending 13 years in undergrad, working at MiccyDs, to only spend four years in, and gain many internship oppurtunities because of their parents' help, why suffer just to sound superior?

I think that families supporting each other should become a more important part of this culture. If your parents helped you with school, you still studied, and did the work. If you buy things with money you only worked 20 hours a week for on top of school instead of 50 hours a week for does that make your work disappear? The problem with this is that it presupposes that everyone is the same. The girl who can make As without opening a single book is the same as the girl who has to read the book, go to class, study and go to tutoring. They both have equal stamina too. Nobody ever gets so exhausted they can't concentrate. It's all just time management! If you can't write 20 pages at 3 am the day before it's due, you're just lazy! And working? Doesn't take any energy. No one needs more than 5 hours of sleep at night, anyway.

I really just think people's health, mental and physical, should be more important than independence. Even if they are just buying Gucci bags, well..woopty do.