THE FRESH PRINCE, august bard of a generation, once remarked that, “To you, all the kids across the land / there’s no need to argue / parents just don’t understand.” In the collective narrative of the American youth, those immortal words signify the universal frustration—and ingenuous disappointment—we encounter as we come of age under the overbearing tutelage of our parents. The popular version of this tale represents college as an idyllic, pastoral escape from parents—the place where we come into our own intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually.
