system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Avatar TLA/Legend of Korra] Is it mandatory for all Airbenders to become monks or nuns?

In the Avatar franchise with the exception of the Avatars themselves every Airbender is either a monk or a nun. Is it mandatory for every Airbender to go down this path or can they choose their own profession?
gpt
The Air-nation doesn't distinguish its members by profession in the way you suggest.

Most, if not all, Monks have professional skills which they utilize to the benefit of the monastery. This would include your conventional trades of animal husbandry, farming/plant cultivation, carpentry, stonemasonry, medicine, poetry, etc. 

What trades/skills an individual air nomad will master, is considered an aspect of their personal development. Unlike the 'profession' model; An Air nomad is free to practice buffalo-tending for several years, before switching to another skill at the monk's discretion.