Young people want to be pilots because the view from the cockpit is the best in the world. Rarely have I met students in other professions with such a compelling love for their job. Look at it this way. A student pilot sits in the classroom and studies elementary aerody then with sunnies on like Tom Cruise and headset swinging in the breeze, he swaggers to his Cessna and follows the theory lesson with an hour in the air doing the vicarious Biggles thing and master of all he surveys from 3000 ft in the training area. It is quite a turn on and any pilot who is honest with himself will admit they love the job because of the view from the cockpit.
Another student decided he loves animals and wants to be a veterinary surgeon. He does some ground theory at University and his first practical lesson starts when he swaggers to a farm with his stethoscope swinging in the breeze, pink rubber gloves dangling from his overalls, and then sticks his hand up a brown cow's arse, for the love of one day being a real vet. Like I said, it is whatever turns you on!
Which is why there will never be a real shortage of students wanting to learn to fly.