I agree. Self-directed education definitely front loads a lot of the problems/decision making early on. I think one of the goals of a good advisor, if you can f

I agree. Self-directed education definitely front loads a lot of the problems/decision making early on. I think one of the goals of a good advisor, if you can find one, is to smooth out these issues so they don't become overwhelming. And to your point about curiosity-driven learning, I'm often shocked at how deep some students get with their learning, if/when they are interested. In some ways, I think we really underestimate how capable young people are. And it's very satisfying, as an educator, to see a student start to embrace continuous learning, as their default mode, and don't interpret learning as a chore or box to check.