"Why don't kids want to be scientists or engineers or blah blah"

Because this isn't the 20th century anymore

Scientists, teachers, librarians, etc. make dirt wages despite lots of education

Tradespeople and factory workers can make a livable wage but they have to work so long to retire now destroying your body is guaranteed

Engineers seem like a bunch of sociopathic antisocial nerds, and actually oftentimes are. Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and your classmate that's really into right wing content and thinks they're smarter than everybody else are negative motivation

Lawyers, bankers, accountants, bizness peepol, look miserable all the time and the jobs/coworkers are known to be toxic af

Doctors pay 300k in tuition and get hazed in residency for years for no good reason other than to be exploited for cheap labour at the cost of their patients having to be taken care of by sleep deprived and overworked doctors