I talk about material conditions when talking to teenagers about a lot of life decision stuff. Turns out no one does this with them so they tend to appreciate someone being real about it. It’s all “you can be anything” and idealistic self-actualization and choosing a job that you “love”.

No. If you do not work, cannot convince that state that you are unable to work, and have no one able to fully support you, you will die. If you have a baby at 16, that medical bill is going to be 5 figures easy. If you get put on probation, you’re significantly more likely to get caught doing illegal shit even if you’re doing the just as much as your peers and that starts you down a pipeline that leads straight to being in and out of jail.

And so much of school is just “everyone’s busy working and letting 16yo’s roam the city until they’re old enough to work is a bad idea”. I remember feeling like I was being babysat and I’d imagine kids felt this a lot more during quarantine