Does treating Young Earth Creationism as a "demand" of Bible inerrancy lead many to leave their faith?

I've wondered if YEC beliefs lead to all-or-nothing beliefs whereby young people lose faith in the Bible once they reach college and get exposed to overwhelming evidence for a very old earth -- even though the Bible itself never claims that followers of Jesus MUST conclude that the the earth is only a few thousand years old. (Obviously, God-loving Christians reach differing conclusions about whether the Bible fosters Young Earth or Old Earth perspectives. Yet I get the impression that the YECs consider the age question central to their faith while OECs do not.)) Accordingly, is raising a personal INTERPRETATION (e.g. the umption that only a young earth fits the Biblical texts) to the level of an unambiguous statement of doctrinal truth as declared in the Bible a case where personal opinions/interpretations get added to the fundamentals of the Christian faith? ......or do you think that hermeneutical uniformity has important advantages even if some of what is declared to be "inerrant Biblical truth" is known to be not so certain? I've wondered about this after coming to the USA and discovering many Christian ministries which seem to focus on attacking everyone and anyone who doesn't promote a Youth Earth perspective? The levels of anger and name-calling seem totally out of character with the teachings of Jesus. Why is the age of the earth such a "heated" issue for so many Christians in the US? I am getting the impression that adamant views about a secondary issue leads many to believe that there is a problem of doctrinal "balance." Or is that a misunderstanding of this phenomenon?