I was told different things by different people, so it's hard to sort out the details now. But the bottom line was always the same: "Instead of wasting more time on books/art/schoolwork, you need to focus on social/athletic/etc". Whether the reason was "Literature and art are worthless/don't pay" -- or "You're good enough at those already".

So I was never given any challenge or even realistic critique on the "good enough" things (since I was making straight A's without work).