It is also possible that the 17 year old does have a goal, but knows that his parents' response will be negative.  That happened to me.  I knew what I wanted, but I had spent so many years listening to "you don't really want that", "It's such a hard life" and other things that I finally shut up and said, "I don't know."

I think his dad should look at the positive that his son is enjoying life, thats not to say dont work, he should work but also be happy.

I would rather my daughter be poor and happy than rich and suicidal. Thats not so say i will encourage her not to make money but i will tell her that it does not bring happiness it only satisfys the need of living comfortably in society.

I'm not a great fan of this whole "goal" thinking in general. By telling that people should set explicit goals for their lives, people are guided to live their lives as if they were task lists. And what happens when one has achieved her goals? What happens if achieving one's goal proves impossible? What happened to lifelong learning? Is it truly disastrous if one can't pull a list of "goals" for a curious inquirer? If we concentrate in finding definite goals and achieving them, how can we ensure that we are still able to seize good opportunities that, though may not immediately useful for our projects, may in long term prove to be most important?
   I wouldn't be that worried if a 17-year old didn't have her life planned. I didn't have. I was only barely aware of that my profession existed. Some people need time to figure things out. It's not what our busy society expects of us, but then- it's not the depth of thinking that has taken us to the middle of 3rd world crisis, greenhouse effect and the culture that Shelley Gare describes as "air headed".

This being said, I also have goals. But they are different from: "Make lots of money, make a good career, get married and have kids"- goals that are commonly understood as the kind of goals one should have. My main goal in life is to become the best person I can be. My goal is to see that my loved ones are happy and that I treat also other people and other beings well. To search wisdom and, if I find any, to share it with others. My goal is to enjoy the wonder that this short life on Earth truly is.
  My "practical goals" have not been much better, really. To consult our Parliament, to find my name from the cover of a book, to talk with astronauts, to write a paper on some really difficult matter, once were on my list of goals. Had I told them to anyone when I was 17, I would have a) been laughed at and b) been provided with utterly useless advice, the following of which would probably have ensured my failing to achieve these goals by the time I was 30. So, in the light of the little wisdom I have gained so far, the best goal I can ask anyone to adopt into her life is: "Set it as your goal to find a thorough answer to these questions: What is good life? How should I live in order to achieve it? What are my duties towards others who share this world with me, and how could I best fulfill them?"

My what an interesting thread developing !  

I’m not saying that the following is the case for everyone as obviously we’re all different, also I think that quite a lot must inevitably depend on the amount of natural energy each child is born with compared to those born with much less.

My own personal view (with hindsight !) is that the more personal privacy that is available to begin with at home in which a child, whatever their energy levels, can truly be him or herself and say from 7 to 18 or so, the more chance they’re likely to discover very early on what they do want to do in life.

And that the less home privacy they have the longer pro rata and depending on individual energy levels, it must take to find out by which time for many they’re probably stuck in some job or marriage they’ve no idea whether they wanted originally or not. At which point the self-discovery trail begins often sadly with the loss of a job or the break-up of a marriage.

For myself I never had any personal privacy to speak of at all being a single child, which can often be the worst “goalless inspiring” situation of all. Certainly this was the case for me because it wasn’t until I was about 40, after years of unrestrictedly doing whatever took my immediate “free at last” fancies, that I finally started doing vocationally what I really did want, to the point where now I’m happily flat broke most of the time !!  

Just my very contented "goal in life, plus long hair and chatting achieved" farthing’s worth  

I would say I have always had a goal but as time goes by the goal changes.

When I was in high school my goal was to graduate which I did.

Then, after graduation I kind of had a short goaless life until I realized I needed a job to live so my goal was to get a job.

And now that I got that job my goal now is to retire with full benefits and everything coming to me.

And when I retire my goal will be to enjoy retirement and be proud of my accomplishments.

Jerry