Why couldn't you do both at the same time? Sounds very arbitrary.
Not to mention "being able to take care of themselves" isn't very precise. I imagine you think that means living by yourself and paying your own bills and such, but then at that point are you expected to never ask anyone for help with anything? Ever? Because if you did ask for help you could then be straying from this vague statement of "being able to care for themselves".
I'm not trying to make a cheap gotcha blow, but rather just making a point that people are constantly learning and improving through their entire lives, and if people were to follow what you said no one, or at best only a very small number of people, would be able to help others. Which is a bad thing, obviously.