Dave,
Mike gets good grades AND makes money painting, you'd still shut him down? He's level headed and is pointed in the right direction.

Sounds like your still stuck in the traditional way of thinking. "get good grades, go to college, get a nice job with a pention working for a good company".
That's the old way of thinking and you may have a decent and happy life doing that but you'll never get to where you really want to be.

My I suggest a book, it's called "Rich Dad, Poor Dad".

You don't want to be an employee at a corporation, you want to OWN the corporation. Whether it be big or small.