Does the world owe you a living?

"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living; the world owes you nothing; it was here first."
- Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)

It's a symptom of how poorly prepared children and adolescents are to face the world of adult responsibilities that they come to believe that the world "owes them a living." The world does not owe them a living, of course, but it does owe them (we owe them) the facts and skills they need to survive and thrive, as people not just as workers.

A person is not primarily the job (or lack thereof) that he holds. Yet that is what school systems teach to. Schools prepare children for jobs. They should prepare children for life, then jobs would be an integral part of their lives--but not the centre of it.

Bill Allin
'Turning It Around: Causes and Cures for Today's Epidemic Social Problems' wants to prepare children to be full adults, not just employees.
See http://billallin.com/cgi/index/pl for more information.