God is glorified by a grocery-story worker just as much as by a doctor, lawyer, Indian chief, Coast Guard gunner, alternative-metal guitarist, or whatever one’s weird offspring do. I think a lot of people don’t get that. If it’s legal, moral, and supports you, knock yourself out, I’ve always said.
Here’s a funny: my 3rd-grade RE class last night was about vocations, and I asked the children to think of “what you want to be when you grow up,” and then fit that into religious or lay vocations. Several of the boys thought they would like to pursue their occupations in religious vocations, including a biologist, a paleontologist, and a drummer! I couldn’t figure how a police officer could also be a religious ;-).
Drummer? Well, here's a seminarian who doubles as a bagpiper!
I'm 50, and I remember my parents pressuring us to go to college. I know that message was reinforced in school, at least inasmuch as we were always reminded about our "permanent record." I bought the college thing, hook, line and sinker. If I didn't get into a great college, I was pretty much worthless as a human being. Embarrassing, but true.
My theory is that the threat of college is one of the few means that teachers have of controlling their students. I mean, if they couldn't touch you in class, and they couldn't ruin your future, what control would they have over you?