<p>HopCop: very informative post. And I love your screen name!</p>
<p>I want to second Jmmom's point that we can only protect our kids from the world for so long. I really appreciate the desire to do so for "four more years", as I was enchanted with my Ds small town options when acceptances rolled in two years ago, for these very reasons. </p>
<p>She chose a city school instead for what it offered her in overall education - including the education of living in a less protected environment. SO FAR, so good, although I still worry. What I have learned as a parent is that my kid can handle it. She can handle life. She knows how to behave safely - although she has lapses - and she has gained confidence and sophistication. Coming from a protected suburban community, this is no small accomplishment. </p>
<p>I'll never forget my first foray into NYC when I was in my 20s. Taking the train for a job interview (from protected Princeton, NJ where H was a student) I joined the swarm of deadpan New Yorkers at the subway station, trying not to be crushed while at the same time trying to stuff a quarter into the subway coin slot. I hadn't occurred to me that I'd need a token. You can imagine the disgusted looks of the regulars. I was so green to the whole urban scene, and everything seemed overwhelming.
I worked for four years in Manhattan and learned more about the world than I would have in 15 years in my suburban home town in CA.</p>