work to live or live to work?

My culture professor brought of a very interesting point in lecture today, "do you work to live or live to work?"

In Espana, just like the US the north of Spain is completely different than the south of spain. I am currently living in the south part, where it is clearly evident that most people work to live. Meaning that, they only work the bare minimum and to be able to live. I'm not saying they are lazing or anything in that nature; they just prefer to have a very lackadaisical approach to work. They don't have overbearing careers or spend the majority of their time involved in work. They might not have tons of nice processions or drive expensive cars. They instead prefer to have the time and they have a lot of it. Their time, instead of being stressed or plagued with worrying about money, is rather spent doing fun free stuff. They like to go to the plazas, the beach, kick around a soccer ball or spend time with the family. This lifestyle is great but as my teacher pointed out it, isn't as rosy as it may seem. He said that yes it's fantastic that people can life their lives in such joy but at the same time they are hurting their economy and their children's future. Children who grow up in that lifestyle will most likely find themselves stuck in this cycle and grow up to be and live exactly like their parents and their is nothing wrong with that but let's just say that kid wants to go to a university or do something different, he probably will never get to have that opportunity. In north of Spain, they apparently do not follow this carefree lifestyle or at least not as much. In north of Spain, a lot more people have careers and are focused on making sure their children have an opportunity to attend. In other words, the people living in southern Spain, live a very happy filled life but at the same time they are compromising their any dream their children might have in the future. It's a difficult side to take. Do you forget about processions, money, stress at the cost of allowing your kids to go to college?