I am first year lab monkey (AKA graduate student) in the US. I fell for the idea that I could do something to change the world with STEM and that academia is an environment of unrestrained intellectual inquiry. The reality is that there is an enormous amount of repetition, a never ending stream of literature with which to keep pace so that you are doing novel research, barriers on what you can research because of the precedence established by the history of your laboratory and your PI's grants, an absurd lack of adherence to basic techniques in experimental design and analysis, and a demand that you study what is relevant to your research rather than what will give a well-rounded, advanced education.

Basically, do not go into graduate school because you have aspirations of finding a cure to cancer or some shit. Go if you have a massive autistic hard-on for studying a highly specific problem for which you have already reviewed the existing literature. Honestly, with an undergraduate degree in something like engineering or computer science, you may as well just go work full-time and funnel money to charities supporting the research that you want to see done if you don't have that autistic hard-on.

STEM is not interesting or exciting for most people. How do we dismantle this narrative being pushed by the media in an effort to drive down the wages of STEM workers? It is leading people down paths of self-destruction and lesser productivity than if they pursued their own interests and natural talents.