Choklit Blog #36: Americans obsess over lame things

First off, the Americans mentioned in the title exclude myself. Bands are not lame. And some other people are also excluded, like most homeschoolers and some smart people.
Anyway.
As you may have figured out from my blog about going to culinary school ate age 15, I go to culinary school and I'm 15. By the way, I haven't blogged in forever. I know. I've been busy... with culinary school. 
... Anyway...
Apparently the whole culinary department is supposed to be notified if a student is under 16 (I don't think it's ever happened before at my school, though) because of labor laws requiring students to be 16 before they use any heavy machinery. I'm about halfway through my second semester right now, and a lot of people who should have known... didn't know. Someone is probably in a lot of trouble now...
So now half the people in my classes are finding out that I'm 15, and I really don't like that because some people get really annoying about it, and I'm not allowed to use heavy machinery in class (like the 60-qt. mixer and I'm assuming the dough sheeter... because mixers are so dangerous...) until I turn 16 next week. Well I have a question. If people aren't expected to go to college until they're 18, and obviously the few people going to college before then will probably be a little bit intelligent and mature.... WHO WAS THAT LAW MADE FOR?
I mean, really, it doesn't make much sense.
[This does relate to Americans obsessing over lame things.]
I also have another question. [Here it comes...] Why are Americans so concerned with how long people have been alive? Age means a lot in this country, and I don't mean like if you're really old you get the respect you deserve. That's the way it works in other countries. In America, if you're really old you get euthanized because it's too expensive to keep you alive.
But this isn't really a blog about euthanasia...
Americans have this thing called "public school." It's supposedly where kids go from the age of 5 to 18 to get educated. It's really where kids go to get institutionalized and sing praises to Obama.
Ok, no more politics.
But public school is just an institution where kids' minds can be ingrained with whatever the American government wants them to believe, and if anyone dares to teach them anything else they get fired. [Well I guess that was a little bit political sounding...] When you're 15, you're expected to go to 10th grade and have a certain amount of knowledge and nothing more. Less is ok... no child left behind! But you can't learn anything above and beyond the American expectation for a 15-year-old. So if you go to college when you're 15 because you finished 10th grade when you were 13, people go crazy!
WHY?
If you're smart enough, why not go to college? I think more people my age should be in college, because I know there are plenty of people out there who could do it. The problem is that Americans focus so much on age that someone's personality, intelligence, and maturity don't count for anything anymore. Fifteen-year-olds are expected to fit in with 15-year-olds, and 30-year-olds are expected to fit in with 30-year-olds. But it doesn't always work that way.
THE NUMBER OF YEARS YOU'VE BEEN ALIVE DOES NOT DETERMINE YOUR MATURITY, INTELLIGENCE, WISDOM, CHARACTER, OR MENTAL CAPACITY.
But in America, it does. In America, it's disrespectful to ask a woman her age because she might not want to reveal that she's "old." When people have to be embarrassed by the number of years they've been alive, you know there's a problem with your culture. I should be able to go to culinary school and tell whoever asks "I'm 15" with no strange looks or annoying questions.
Or lame laws.