Rainer, perhaps you should have :)

Actually I know quite a few academics who hate their jobs. I know
others who have no aptitude at what they so, so they do it badly.

Life is a breeze if you can do what you love doing, have an
aptitude for and then people want to pay you for that.

IMHO alot of kids are pushed and shoved this way, or that way,
then land up stuck in a rut for a career, unhappy for alot of
their lives. So my suggestion is simply to spend a bit more time
finding out what kids are passionate about and then helping them
along that path. When I was a teenager, my mother tried to push
me down this path or that path. Luckily I was a stubborn little
bugger and ignored her completely :)

BTW IMHO a great mechanic is worth far more then a bad doctor.