My grandson of 15 years has been offered a job as a swimming instructor ... this because he plays water-polo and took swimming lessons. These to me are valuable life skills. He has dropped his accelerated studies program in high school to be able to keep up with his extracurricular activities. These will include completing his life guard and swim instructor certifications and being a valuable member of a national water-polo team with the perk of a fair amount of 'travel'. He will also continue his music studies and continue to play saxophone in the school band. I could not have hoped for more. My daughter, who may or may not have completed all of her grade 10 high schooling - has just been promoted from manager of one store to operations manager of all of them - this job she started 2 years ago at 32,000 salary has been raised to 70,000. I could not be prouder of either of them ... not because they can make a lot of money ... but because they were able to learn through experience rather than having to get degrees which may or may not have led to 'gainful' employment. While I recognize that there are some 'careers' that need degrees ... I am happy that things are turning out this well for my children - dedication and hard work while doing what they love to do - doesn't get much better than that!