“Ma’am, please step away from the pen.”
Rachel Canning, a high school senior from Lincoln Park, New Jersey, made headlines last week for trying to sue her own parents—for kicking her out of their house and then refusing to pay her private school’s tuition. The 18-year-old senior demanded that her parents take financial responsibility for her tuition, pay for her living expenses, and give her the money that they had saved in a college fund for her.
Legal analyst Kendall Coffey said what was on everybody’s minds about the case: “Talk about a ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ lawsuit. It looks like it’s going absolutely nowhere,” he said.
Coffey added that “if a kid can sue their parents for not paying this or not paying for that, heaven help us all. Let’s just hope this is the last we’ll hear about this lawsuit.”
Last week, a New Jersey State Superior Court judge denied Canning’s request that her tuition and living expenses be paid. However, whether or not she has access to funds saved by her parents for college won’t be decided until April.
Canning’s case pegs her as the face for every American that somehow feels entitled to everything. America is supposed to be the land of opportunity, but that doesn’t mean we always get everything we want. Canning had full access to all the things she’s now demanding—she just had to live by her parents’ rules. Not doing so was a conscious decision on her part, and one she should be held accountable for.
