Indifference and Lack of interest in Academics

I see many an example of this happening around me. Infact more of this rather than not (atleast that's what I infer from what I see). An indifference towards academics. Whenever one sees a person reading more than what has been taught in the class or something totally unrelated to any of the courses he/she's taking, the first question that pops up is invariably.."Putting enthu..eh!" or "Project work..???? under whom da ??" or "Why are you unnecessarily putting fight da ?? What's the point ?? ". The last question will come up if the answer to the 2nd qn is negative. Seriously let me ask you one thing...do you chat with friends in a gumbal to practise for a GD in an interview.. (if you do.. then something's seriously wrong.. I suggest you had better visit a psychiatrist !!!).. Isn't it for one obvious reason.... FUN .. Why do everybody forget this when it comes to Acads.. Can't reading anything related to Acads be fun.. ??? Why not.. ??? Why do everybody consider Acads and fun "ends apart"... I sometimes get irked by this.. I know it's the Academic system to blame.. I can tell you that I myself don't know where I would have landed up.. if it had not been hammered into my head that IIT is the place in the world to be.. infact so much so that .. even after they (mean my parents) had given up after my failure in my first attempt to get in.. I didn't ... Most people land up here because of such hammering and not because of an real interest in sciences or engineering.. I accept it's tough to get an interest in these fields when you don't have an exposure to it before you come here... But my humble request to those who don't find this (academics) interesting is that... Please don't deter and demean others' interests.. esp hard found ones..I mean people jump over so many things before they find something like "Love at first sight"