In the Jewish tradition, a boy becomes a man at the age of 13. The event is celebrated with a bar mitzvah. I just heard that George Washington was leading troops (badly) at the age of 22.
Today, children often live at home with their parents until they are 30 and General Casey in Iraq is many years past 22.
Thinking about age and maturity, I ask: does it take longer to "grow up" today?
Maybe 2,000 years ago, one could learn all they needed to learn to survive by age 13. Maybe 200 years ago, it took 18 years. Does it take 25 or 30 years today?
Does the complexity and technology levels of society today mean that it takes longer to master life skills? When I was studying engineering, it seemed like 4 years was just not long enough to learn all the material and science has come much further in the past 15 years.
