Why does education determine everything?

I loved school, from my infants, to my junior, to my high school. I listened, tried hard and never had a detention (yes, I was that kid) but, I have got some problems with education and how it controls your entire life.

In 2019, I will be expected to go to university, it's something that is assumed in sixth form, that you will spend weeks writing a personal statement and you will go to university. I am currently having a problem getting my head around this, why is it assumed that we won't get far without a degree in our back pocket? I have sat and read every prospectus I have, I've visited countless university's but I still don't know what I want to do in the future. I'm 17. I need to decide what I'm going to do until I retire. HOW?

Don't get me wrong, I do want to experience university, to meet new people, get a new type of education and also be free to get drunk every night. But, I don't know what career I want to follow. Personally, I have to try reaaallly hard to get a good grade. My GCSE's may not be most valued by uni's, as I failed maths. This failure broke me on results day, I cried for hours and genuinely thought my life was over, because of a number on a piece of paper. I chose a different sixth form on results day and went home and cried, completely ignoring any other grade I had got, I also failed science but I was expecting that one ngl. But, I got B's in all my other subjects and I think that's something to be proud of.

I feel like I'm conditioned to think that I'm not good enough due to education and the norms of A's, university, degrees and doctorates. I want to be proud of myself, whether that's through education or not. I never want to sit and cry because of a piece of paper again.

Another mental problem I am fighting is the concept of a 9-5 job, it's something that doesn't sit well with me. I want to make a difference, ideally a job involving helping people would be the best for me, but I don't want a normal job, weird isn't it?

I look up to teachers, policemen, nurses, binmen, cleaners, social workers, psychologists etc who spend most of their day doing their job to make a difference for somebody else, but I personally can't see myself doing a 9-5, which may be difficult with the way jobs are going.

I'm so conflicted in my thoughts, there's so much I want to do, but I know from studying sociology that working class lifestyles will probably remain working class, such as the myth of meritocracy states.

Why does education determine everything? 

Why can't our thoughts, our goals our determination help push us to what we want, whether that involves getting a job with a degree or without.

A lot of people may agree or disagree with how I view education, don't get me wrong, I love learning new things, but I am so scared that if I don't get good A levels and I don't end up in uni, that I won't get far in life.

How do you feel about this?