Wonder how common this is but I absolutely detest academia as a whole. Individual professors are nothing short of miracle workers but I've seen firsthand that admin destroys people's will to live. I would rather go through shock therapy than teach students who don't wanna learn and be forced to grade all day when I know I'm gonna be pushed to pass everyone anyway and won't be able to really get 1-1 time with students to really help patch up their understanding and instill a love of the subject and learning as a whole.

I'm just sorta convinced that academic institutions have done everything possible to eliminate a love for learning and the desire to explore a subject from their student's hearts despite every good willing professor trying their damndest to do the exact opposite.

Maybe i'm just being too cynical but I want actual professors' opinions here: am I wrong?

I fuckin love math and love exploring ideas and applying my brain to tackle complex problems. I just think i'd be better paid, more intellectually stimulated and more fulfilled at a research role in some kinda AI lab or hedge fund.

>>16726121 (OP)
teaching is like priority 99 for profs. my pi in undergrad (condmat theory) never gave exams because he didn't want to spend time grading anything. but at the same time he also never did any research himself because that's what the grad students/postdocs are for. that is, profs are really just administrative figureheads who understand their fields really well and can guide research but spend more time budgeting and going to conferences than actually discovering shit.
all this to say if you like research join industry or a national lab or something, unless not being able to dictate your research interests is a major dealbreaker.

>>16726121 (OP)
you want to do research? justify my discovery

>>16726121 (OP)
Just postdoc forever

>>16726121 (OP)
Surely, you don't need academia for that?

>>16726121 (OP)
go for a national lab career. And join the discussions over in >>>/sci/scg where the FAQ covers this.