Some students openly rebel by refusing to waste their time studying something they feel is useless. I try to explain that in their futures they will appreciate understanding various ideas and concepts so they can successfully make decisions in their lives. Most of the time I get comments about how an education is not worth anything except maybe for the fact that they can make more money if they graduate. They sometimes even bring up articles in the local paper describing how the schools are bankrupting the towns and a cut-back in funding is necessary. I continue to explain that money is not an ends to life.
Understanding is more important than how much they can make because money is an empty goal.
I tell them that an intellectual life creates a happier life-style because it fulfills why we are here. By now most of my students sneer at this explanation because they see what happened to me by choosing an intellectual life. I became only a teacher. My day continues with an attempt to have my students understand concepts that they can't believe they will need to survive in this world. These are the students who argue that if one doesn't take the opportunity to live for today, they will never experience life.