Hey kids, guess what - do the things you're interested in in school. Folks will tell you you will NEVER use them, but here's a little story.

My folks made me take Spanish in high school. This is FINE - I love Spanish. I was once really fluent. I need to relearn it. BUT.

They also didn't want me to take French or German.

"You'll never use them," they said.

It was useful when I studied linguistics (on top of computer science). It has been useful in knowing what was going on in the world. It has been useful in knowing my own language.

And...

It turned out to be very useful when I moved to Germany to escape the US and became a citizen. And when I unwillingly lived in France with my then husband. And...

All three languages have been VERY useful in being able to follow what's going on in Switzerland (Spanish != Italian, but I get the gist), especially since sometimes info is delivered in two languages at once in a conversation before translation.

All of those writing classes I took?

That sets me well apart from a lot of my fellow engineers and programmers, and it is a NECESSARY skill.

Art and music? They changed the way I think, dramatically.

History? My world would suck right now if I hadn't had reasonable background.

My folks laugh about me having learned Dutch as an au pair, but it's made me friends, made other Germanic languages more approachable, and 15 million people (at least) speak it.

Learning is life. Go learn something you want to learn.

Your parents can't predict your future.

As a parent I'll give you a hint - we can't even predict Friday night.

Do what you love.