4V29LN0n, you seem to have missed the point. The kid really isn't asking 'why should I study', he's trying to figure out what's the point of life itself - why is anything that society places importance on of value. He obviously finds the purely materialistic motive for school; 'getting a job with a good company', to be unsatisfying, and is looking for something more. Shinra explains that the search for knowledge itself is the reward, that for him a life spent in the pursuit of mysteries and historical truths is immensely satisfying.