Suburbs

Suburb (n.) - a district lying immediately outside a city or town, esp. a smaller residential community.

Having lived in a suburb for the majority of my life, I have only a fraction of the desire many teenagers have to leave the "Burlingame Bubble." As Louis Simpson says in "In the Suburbs," there is no way out; lives are wasted and spent in a boring, middleclass life. I do agree with these people when they say that the suburbs don't expose us to the "real world," but I believe it protects us. I don't think many of us are old and mature enough to experience the real world; well, at least I don't think that I am.

Then again, adults think teenagers are ready for a lot of things far beyond their maturity level. Not only do they expect us to change our lifestyles from a safe environment that we grow up in to a completely different one, but they expect us to know what we want out of life (declaring college majors). Personally, I don't think I will be ready to leave the "Burlingame Bubble" for an extended amount of time to attend college, but since society deems us ready, I will do my best to prepare.