It’s graduation season and millions of graduates are getting all sorts of advice, some useful, and some not so much. The useful advice tends to be practical: eat your veggies, spend less than you earn, sort your laundry. (My college’s team color was an intense, bright red. By the end of the first month, most of the guys in my dorm had new t-shirts—and pink underwear.)

The more esoteric advice leaves a lot to the imagination: “Strive.” “Live your dreams.” “Be all that you can be.” Strive to do… what? The value of much advice like this depends largely on what a graduate’s goals are. Do they want to make the world a better place? Or is their goal to amass as much stuff (money, fame, power) as possible?

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