Commentary by Samuel Strait – March 10, 2022 It has been awhile since I first heard the term "Helicopter Mom", yet have had a hard time wrapping my mind around mother's that would behave in such a fashion. It is often hard enough when young people break the only ties they have ever known and gone off to college to start their "new" life as a maturing adult. Often these young people are for the first time in their lives experiencing the world of independence and new adventures, pushing the boundaries of their previous existence towards newly revealed worlds. For some it is a learning experience, some good and some bad, but never the less an increase in their maturing portfolio. Recently having read a couple of articles regarding students at both University of Nevada Reno, and University of Wisconsin, Madison who were protesting each State's relaxation of Masking on College campuses. It wasn't as though you could not continue to mask up that troubled the protesting students, it was that others would be "allowed" to attend the Universities "mask free" that drew their ire. Apparently many young people who attend University are no longer bent on stretching their limits, rebelling against authority, and relishing their person being securely controlled in the womb of higher authority. Stunning, I had to admit, what has happened to America's rebellious youth, where have they gone? I decided to go to a source that for four decades has held court in front of those formerly rebellious youth in the guise of a academic. The question posed was what has happened to those youth we considered the next wave of inspiration and societal advancement? How have they for many been transformed into the robots seeking to be dominated by today's ruling classes? Where has critical thinking, independent spirit, and rebellion against "the man" gone? My younger sister of four decades of close contact with the college age youth of America replied, "They never left home". She went on to explain that many in the last three generations of American youth never have had to "grow up". They remain in the custody of their parent's home, "helicopter parents" who dictate and continue to hoover over their children, refusing to allow them to spread their own wings towards adulthood. They remain trapped in the state of imminent departure from the family home, their high school friends, and even their high school sweet heart who is attending an entirely different college. Such students spend most of their college experience following the dictates of their parents because "social media" keeps them on a tight leash. High school friends and "the girl friend" are constant companions on weekends and holidays, where they flee home at every opportunity. The college experience becomes an endless loop of high school, no break a ways and independence to be found. I often wondered what had happened when contact with the younger generation produced all sorts of uttered leftist foolishness early on in life. My sister has experienced it in growing numbers for decades. She had the educator's concern with how the Helicopter generations would fare in the real world and I can state unequivocally not so well. It is not as though they have gotten any less intelligent, just more indoctrinated towards the status quo. The American public education system once again. Not much critical thinking or thinking of any kind can be found in many of those brains, just the desire to remain hobbled and immersed in their high school social media world well into an uneventful future of being controlled willingly. Those liberal/progressive parents who have become their children's version of "helicopter parents" beware what you are doing to the youth of America. Set them free……