Nope, have to disagree with you on that. However, the reality of the career versus the vision of an aspiring HS student or college freshman can be quite a disconnect, at least for some STEM professions.
You may have gone to college with dreams of a PhD and great contributions to science, but you are sheltered if you think that’s what the majority of STEM majors do.
I agree with 9YearLurker. Where I went to get my EE degree they provided the opportunity to gain a deep understanding of the underlying math and physics. But you could also get by with "plug & chug", i.e. just memorize the appropriate formulas without really understanding them and get the right answers.
There were a heckova lot of plug-and-chuggers who just wanted to get the degree so they could get to work and start making money.
No shame in that, but they definitely weren't in college to get a broad education. I thought of them as mercenary engineers.