Chris, I am pleased that you have not lost hope for a better future. Optimism is a good thing, although I sometimes expect the worst so that I might feel relieved with a better than expected outcome.

We don't teach young how to succeed.
By the time they start high school many are already on a path to failure.

Public schools teach kids how to become renters and employees.
Private schools teach kids how to become landlords and employers, Parents of those kids don't want them cleaning toilets and emptying bins.

But they're all rats in a cage, slave to a system.
We don't teach our kids to become entrepreneurs.

You could literally start your own empire and become your own boss at age 13 for under $10 with knowledge and determination to do so.

$10, buy a bucket, some chux, some windex and a cake mix.
Bake the cake, cut it into pieces, go door to door selling the cake and ask if you can clean windows.
One small bit of work earning $100 and you could buy a $50 vacuum cleaner, a mop, and a duster.
Do a little more work and buy a cheap mower, whipper snipper and long handle pruners.

Now you're 13 years old and you have 2 business, one home cleaning and another lawn services.
You get almost $100 to mow a lawn these days.

These jobs you get paid by task, so you won't get low wages just because you're a kid so you skip junior wages.

Keep using your money to make more money.
If you live near the beach, buy a $250 metal detector and go hunting for watches and jewelry.

Buy a couple of trailers, and hire them out.

Learn to have you fingers in all the pies, concentrate on teaching them how to buy a house the easiest way, like get a home deposit by 18 and let your friends and co-workers rent and pay it off for you.

Start a business, a coffee shop or something.
If you do everythng right, you might make 4k on weekdays and 5k on weekends if it's in the right location.
It might cost you 12k a week to run with rents, cafe supplies, wages, electricity, insurance, but you might make nearly 30K a week.

You're 18, your friends and co-workers are paying your house off for you, and you're making 10k a week.
Do we teach kids this? No.

An entrepreneur makes their own opportunities.

We don't teach our kids to be smart.
They don't even know what to do when they finish school.
All they want to do is hang out with friends and spend money, and it's not until they're in mid 20's that a few might start thinking about a house (when they already have a partner, and kids) or starting their own businesses.

Seriously, a 13 year old could learn just one computer program and a bit off CSS which they probably already teach them in high school.

Learn how to set up shopify and square websites, and how to set-up POS and configure shipping for online sales
You could make $100 an hour or $1000 for building an entire website in 2 school nights.
http://www.shopify.com/au

They even give kids an easy way to learn it.

"In Australia, students can access a special Shopify student offer providing four free months to build their store, followed by a $1/month fee for the next three months to start selling. This offer is designed for students at qualified institutions, allowing ample time to develop a business, with verification typically through a school email address."

Buy a laser cutter maxhine.
http://www.dicksmith.com.au/da/buy/vevorstore-vevor-laser-engraver-laser-engraving-machine-10w-compressed-spot-eye-protection-jywrdififcjibwhpyu2/
Use it to make drink coasters.
Start will brand name alcohol coasters.
Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, Bundy Rum.
Contact local pubs and cafes and see if they want some coasters made, with their brand logo. Buy some felt and some spray adhesive.

Buy a pressure washer, $100 Bunnings.
http://www.bunnings.com.au/ozito-1800w-2030psi-high-pressure-washer_p0254158
Clean wheelie bins, concrete driveways and pathways and housewashes.

Spend some of the savings buying $2 coins from the bank, and look for the more valuable ones, not only will it add to your income, but for the rest of your life ou'll know which ones are the valuable ones, if ever you come across them.

Buy a piece of land, start with a old caravan and a 2 car garage.
Put in solar panels and solar battery.

Put shipping containers on your property and rent them out for storage for extra income
Knock some star pickets in and lease it to the local cattle farmer or rent it out for horse agistment.
Find out what plants are valuable or sought after in local restaurants and build a greenhouse.
Put some of these cheap new portable homes on your property.
http://www.comfycontainerhomes.com.au/products/container-house-kit-flat-packed-ready-for-diy-assembly-copy-1
Do a bit of landscaping set up an undercover area between them with lounge, tiki bar, spa, bbq.and get $250 night each.
Make it nice and rent it out as a venue for weddings.

There's a million things you could do, endless opportunities.
Do we really inspire them, do we teach kids what to do, how to really get ahead?

- Not really.

God almighty, that snotty nosed kid I employed this morning to clean up my front garden.... he's just whipper-snipped the heads of my prized petunias! 5 years of careful nurturing, oh, my prized petunias gone with one foul swipe by a kid with a whipper-snipper. My hard work, its all gone down the drain. Oh no, now he's set the kitchen on fire, claiming he was going to bake me a cake!