Bertrand Russell famously suggested, and he was being serious, that no one should leave school before the age of thirty. It is a strange effect of aging that one can view a twenty year old and remembering how adult one felt at that age, see clearly how immature most twenty year olds actually are. Right up to the last century there was always pressure to achieve early in life because death would come early, and although the Alexander Pope’s of this world being Latin scholars by twelve, are few and far between, they were held as the level to be aimed for if possible.
But today we live much longer and the impetus to achieve early is all about giving ourselves longer working lives, and by working we meaning earning. Yet the fundamental immaturity of the human brain for two to three decades is still relevant as anyone will tell you who is fifty and over and answers the question, If I knew now…
We applaud Prime Ministers who are still in their forties and have learned but half the life lessons needed to be leaders. We honour children pushed so hard they are burnt out by the time the are thirty instead of looking forward to fifty years of wiser counsel. It isn’t for everyone but the pace should never be guided by anything other than how well the mind has imbued the history of thought of the human race.
Wisdom after all, as always been the preserve of the older.