Here is another false platitude. “A mind is a terrible thing to waste”! I believe it should be “A strong back is a terrible thing to waste”.
There is no greater incentive to acquire a practical education than the performance of labor-intensive tasks in one's youth. I came to the conclusion while baling hay, cutting tobacco, and building seawalls and piers, that my academic studies were the means to not spend the rest of my life doing hard, dirty work.
That isn't elitist, nor snobbery--I still like doing hard, dirty, work--but I could see the physical toll such had taken on those older men with whom I worked, and it didn't take long to realize the guys who sweated least on any given job seemed to make the most money.