Honestly, I think a lot of good would be accomplished by simply abolishing Bachelors degrees in subjects like these. You want to enter school to study anthropology? Great. Get ready to work your ass off for the next 8-12 years (and then struggle through the world of post-doc appointments and tenure track for the next 9-15 years after that). Oh, suddenly that doesn't sound so appealing? Well then, lets see what other major you might pick that will give you marketable skills after 4-5 years.
It's incredibly myopic for a people who are passionate about something that also happens be a reasonably well paying profession to tell other people that they shouldn't follow their interests.
If anything I think people get stuck because they don't follow their interests strongly enough.
Amen. Almost all the programmers I know (myself included) chose it as a career choice primarily because they found it interesting, not because the money was good. It just so turned out that what I (and probably a lot of other people here) wanted to do because they liked it also turns out to be a great career choice. We of all trades are the ones who should definitely not be telling people they need to make the tradeoff between doing something they love and something that will get them a job just because we happen to work in the intersection of both. That I get paid well to do something I love is truly amazing luck, and I (and, it seems, a good portion of the industry) tend to forget that all too often.
Social anthropology was interesting to study, but at some point I realized that actually embarking on a career as a social anthropologist would have been terrible for me. I like learning about different cultures, not studying a few scientifically. I can do that as an amateur.
When I sat down to decide what to do instead, I thought, a) I like making ASP pages for our newspaper, b) you can go into a lot of fields with a CS degree, and c) there is a clear path for making a tangible impact on society. It turns out, that was pretty sound reasoning (despite ASP pages being entirely different from CS): I've worked at Microsoft, in computational biology, and now at a publishing startup. I've never lacked for engagement (except toward the end of my time at MSFT), and the problems I'm able to solve in our economy are a larger part of that than the practice of the discipline itself.
Do they like it more than they'd like waiting tables or serving coffee?
"It's incredibly myopic for a people who are passionate about something that also happens be a reasonably well paying profession to tell other people that they shouldn't follow their interests."
I don't think anybody is telling them not to follow their interests. But if they're going to do that they should realize and accept that doing what they love may not pay well.
b) I never said CS didn't interest me — that "study what interests you" is bad advice doesn't mean to do the opposite. See my reply above for more explanation and a short description of my thought process.
Young folks also take bigger risks, like doing music or art in the hope that they can make it. Add in an education system that rarely considers humility a value and realistic assessment of your skills and that's why people don't have marketable skills.
Mind you, there are places like the School of Music near me where for every incoming class they tell them that they won't get a job and most of them will not make it. It's really honest, but on wildly optimistic 18 year olds it doesn't have much impact.
If you feel the deep passion and need for bringing your ideas into the world, you will be successful.
The issue is motivation, you're either working towards doing great work or you aren't.
Most people aren't.
If you are passionate about being a screenplay writer, your talent will be drowned out in the deluge of other passionate and hardworking people also trying to be screenplay writers. For the vast majority of people, that kind of pursuit is better left as a hobby.
I think you (and I, and most of us here in HN) should count ourselves lucky that we happen to be passionate about programming. It's a tool that allows us to bring out ideas to life - anything from games to Mars rovers to businesses. People passionate about 19th century Russian literature don't have the luxury that we do because that's not going to earn them a living, no matter how great their passion may be.
This "they should pull themselves up by their bootstraps" notion is a little misguided, IMO. Instead, I'd say the screenplay writer should see if she can get herself to be at least passably comfortable in a marketable field, while leaving the writing for the weekends.