Following your dreams

You know, education is a funny thing.
I've been hearing about a lot of books that tell you how to break out of the traditional public school system. They seem to say that following your passion is the best way to get a good education.
But imagine the following scenario:
You have a kid, whose going into high school. He reads a book about following passions. He has a passion to fly. Flying costs money, and his family is barely scraping by on the joint income of his mom and dad.
How is he to follow his passion?
In my opinion, it's great to do what these books say. And many people become successful doing this. Bill Gates comes to mind.
Just something to chew on. Maybe we should think about the 90% of the world that can't afford to do the things they want to do. Let's help them out.