ER–Again, some excellent points, and I also agree with you regarding your points concerning education.

Many of my college friends, knowing/hoping they would become pilots with a major airline ( only 5% at any given time are actually hired) took “easy” majors.

Even though that was the only profession I was interested in, I still wanted a degree in aerospace/aeronautical engineering, and it has served me well with regard to consulting projects over the past several years.

Especially now, with the fierce global competition, it seems that young people preparing for, and entering college would be well served to be extremely discriminating about choosing their college majors–especially when the stats reveal over 50% of grads today are, essentially, “unemployable.”

Concerning all of the diverse viewpoints here concerning risk and reward. The final answers most likely lie with each individual to determine how they want to “play” with their lives.

Others can offer opinions, as many here have, but, in the end, each of us is completely responsible for our own decisions–and we will be forced to live with the outcome of those decisions–good or bad–like it or not.