Dear Stephen, thank you for bringing your personal point of view. In passing, I would like to underline that, provided you are familiar with italian, you can find the actual article concerning Francesca Esposito here: http://www.repubblicadeglistagisti.it/article/testimonianza-francesca-esposito-ex-praticante-ufficio-legale-inps-lecce. With your permission I will inform her of your message, in case she would like to reply.
What you say is perfectly sensible and I'm sure many would agree, as I do. "Think big" is a great suggestion, let aside a necessity nowadays. But, on the other hand, leaving can't be the only way. One third of the population under 35 left without an employment is not something you can solve just thinking big, being daring and adventurous. As an Italian and roughly of the same age as Francesca, I do understand her statement on college: if I take a look around, those who back in the days wouldn't care a bit about "enrichment" and "enlarging their lives" and "seeing better" are those who are now living better lives, earning money on technical or low skilled jobs, getting married, paying a mortgage ecc. ecc, while those with higher levels of education can't do better than staying home with mommy and daddy, badly sailing trough unchallenging, temporary posts at ridiculous wages. Hence an exodus almost comparable, in size, with that of our grandparent's parents. People have been leaving for a long time already and in many cases actually finding something better. But we can't empty this country, can we :)? Sincerely, Annalisa.