Well, in Sweden you aren’t really forced to even think about what profession you want until the the beginning of third  year of junior high school. But you really only have to consider what type of high school program you want to apply to. If you don’t want to think about that or can’t decide then there is no real pressure. You just enter high school (gymnasiet) and chose classes you think are fun.

There are a lot of students that go through all of high school and have no clue what they want to do afterwards. But they aren’t forced to choose, they can graduate and apply for lots of different jobs, or apply to university and lots of Swedish high school graduates want to travel after graduating. So they work for a couple of months in places like Norway in places like fish factories. The pay is much better though these young people are away from their families and if they have gone alone then from their friends too. The work is in no way anything people come back from wanting to do more of. But the pay is good and they can then finance living by themselves for a while or living/traveling abroad.

To use Japan as an example; japanese children’s futures can depend on what schools their parents send them to, and later when applying for jobs it is custom to write what schools you have attended as merits.

Swedish parents usually (almost always) send their children to the closest school unless it has a bad reputation. Meaning that the name of the school very rarely holds any privilege or advantage (fördel).

To continuing using Japan as an example; japanese students in the prestigious schools have to choose (or start thinking about/aiming for) a certain university in the first year of high school (second term of three) (andra terminen av tre). Whilst swedish high school students might not even know if the want to go to university or not a couple of months before graduation.

In your country/culture are school names’  important? When is do young people have to have decided what they want to do with their future?