The more important question is why should someone working in math or engineering be portrayed as nerdy and unsociable in the society, while these demographics deserve the most credit for our society's thrive in modern times. This trend, in my opinion, is directly responsible for the distinct lack of desire amid the youngsters in the recent years. Many kids are just way too busy expressing themselves. Look at the engineering/math grad programs, they are by and large comprised by people from other nations (those who are swiftly going for that card: I am an immigrant engineering grad student myself, so put it back in your hand). My role models growing up, were Shannon, Turing, Dijkstra, Feynman, VonNeumann you name it. I was more than stunned to observe that the recent replicas of my heroes, if exist at all, have grown up combating through a deluge of humiliation in high-school, reality-shows, college and so on. Can't this be a huge turn off for someone who might even be remotely interested in pursuing a career in Math et. al ? And that is for doing what they love and being extremely good at it. I can't assimilate the difference between a professional musician and a mathematicians and why the former is applauded to some deity level, while the latter has is badged with the stigma of nerd.