an annoyed writer said:
Stay safe at all costs. Pursue the almighty dollar. Be a miserable old bastard with nothing to live for.
I think advice like that is damaging a lot of people. I'm doing my A levels (I'm seventeen, surrounded at A level college by people my age and older) and the amount of people I know with actual dreams, or plans is probably in the single digits. Fair enough if you pick a course that sounds interesting. It could be the gateway to your dream job if you have no idea. But seeing education as just something to get through is a horrible mistake to make, especially at this point.
Basically the attitude of everyone around me is 'oh well, at least I'll get a bit of money'. People seem to think work just isn't something to be enjoyed. Most people going to university have only planned that far, and most people not going to university have only planned that they will work. As general as that is. I think not having an idea of what you want to do is what contributes to a lot of failure and constant repeating in A levels, just because you pick courses from a trivial interest, or because it sounds easy, and thus approach it apathetically. There are a bunch of people here in their early twenties just because they're in a cycle of 'oh, I failed. Guess I'll try again next year.'
I know what I want to do, and I have done for years. Fair enough to say I decided quite early, but I can now angle myself towards it, and just that preexisting idea of where I'm going, I think, has given me more potential for success than a lot of people.
OT: 'Solving other people's problems is nearly always easier than solving your own'.