RE: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? - NO!
Papa you've described exactly the situation we're going through now with our teenage kids.
There's an unbelievable push for kids to "Go to College".
It's pounded into them starting in elementary school even though it's selling them into economic slavery.
I'm trying to make them grasp the concept of entrepreneurship; sure go to college if you want, but do it to better yourself, not so you can get a good job.
And don't take on debt that will take you until your retirement to pay off.
Jobs suck; they don't last forever and you usually don't get advanced notice when they go away.
And that sucks too.
My wife has both a Bachelor's Degree and a J.D. (yes, she's an attorney, and a damned good one).
Contrary to popular belief, most attorneys are in debt up to their eyeballs. If not from Law School, very often from buying their "Partnership" in a Law Firm.
And Law Firms turn otherwise bright, compassionate people into soulless dicks.
We're both glad she "wasn't a good fit".
I don't ever want to "retire", I want to do work that I find interesting and challenging right up until the day I die, on my 120th birthday in a freak skydiving accident.
Wow, excellent comment. I am a strong advocate for a debt free life.
Excellent post.
I'm glad to have finally found people with similar values.
Me too!
What I love about your comment is the statement "go to college if you want, but do it to better yourself, not so you can get a good job". THIS is what it is about. Attending a largely liberal arts school, I knew a lot of students studying literature, music and the arts who said their parents weren't very encouraging or supportive because "they weren't going to support themselves with a useless degree". But they were artists! They were happy! Life has become about unimportant things like jobs and we are forgetting to live by what we enjoy. I went into the field of animal care and biology knowing I wouldn't be making much money (luckily with my parents supporting and respecting my decision). I work long hours, take home little pay, but at the end of the day, I don't think I'd be happier anywhere else!