>Are the only concrete examples a seven year old walking to school by themselves and wearing snow boots sometimes? It's a much broader thing culturally from my

>Are the only concrete examples a seven year old walking to school by themselves and wearing snow boots sometimes? It's a much broader thing culturally from my experience well up into adult age. When I was in uni a little bit more than 10 years ago (in Germany) we used to have quite a few American expats and they behaved like kids too. Over here people can drink when they're 16, when they're 18 they move into a shared flat, do their laundry, cook their food etc. The American students were all into dorm life, couldn't handle booze, couldn't cook often, etc. American schools and colleges seem like daycare centers in comparison to education here. I don't buy the argument that this is just about transit or environment or safety. US life seems very "on rails" all the time straight up into adulthood.