Being a college student is kind of like being locked in a perpetual nebulous state somewhere between adulthood and adolescence. Outwardly, the line is that we’re young adults, capable of directing our own lives and making our own decisions about those lives.

A bill proposed by Rep. Rosemary Thomson, R-Marion, among others, would swing that perception to the other side. A bill that passed the Iowa House last week by an overwhelming majority would give the state’s college administrators the right to notify students’ parents if they are convicted of a drug or alcohol-related offense.

The bill still awaits debate in the Iowa Senate, but it has bipartisan support, and chances are it will soon be law.

This brings up a lot of interesting questions. Should college students still be required to answer to their parents? What if their parents happen to be picking up the check at Caf‚ de ISU?

The proposal would not require parents to be notified in every case, of course. The wording grants administrators the freedom to pick and choose which cases are deemed serious enough that a student’s parents need to be contacted.

However, the whole idea of Iowa State calling mommy and daddy every time little Johnny gets caught with beer in his dorm room seems a tad absurd.

Thomson said the bill would give administrators one more “tool” to battle college binge drinking.

Exactly how would tattling to one’s parents cut down on what admittedly is a serious problem on campuses statewide and nationwide?

Parents give up control of their children when they send them off to college, whether they’re footing the bill or not.

No, college is not the real world, and many students come to a point in their lives when they still need their parents as a safety net of sorts, but how are these students supposed to learn to make rational and wise decisions when they know every time they screw up, their parents are going to be allowed to peek over their shoulders to see how they’re doing?

If parents is truly concerned about the welfare of their child, they can talk to him or her on their own accord.

They surely don’t need the university to do their dirty work for them.

Meanwhile, college students need to have the independence to learn how to act in society without fearing the wrath of their parents.

The role of the parent in teaching a child the ways of the world is, for the most part, done by the time the child becomes a college freshman. All parents can and should do is sit back and hope they’ve done their job correctly.

Iowa State Daily Editorial Board: Sara Ziegler, Greg Jerrett, Kate Kompas, Carrie Tett and David Roepke.