and, what do you say about a society where it's easier to succeed at doing graduate level mathematics than it is to find a part-time job at a fast food restaurant (which is all you need when you don't spend any money)? what do you say about a world where option a is realistic, and option b isn't because you're seen as "overqualified"?
my choices in the matter were always deeply restricted - the society let me go to school, and let me rack up debt but wouldn't let me do service sector jobs after i'd been in school for a while, even though it's what i actually wanted. so, the outcome is predictable - going to school just becomes a dead-end job. you're just there because you have to be, to generate some kind of income to pay the rentier class. what do you expect from such a person?
do you expect such a person to succeed and publish papers and climb the academic ladder? you shouldn't, that's not realistic.
rather, what you got is what you ought to have expected - largely uninspired "work" that is really just content because it arises solely out of a work contract, rather than any place of legitimate interest.
please check out the music if you want to hear something inspired and real.