Third, some people were attracted to mathematics instruction and research just as a means to a livelihood in some shape or manner. Fourth, some find an enthusiasm for mathematical thought or mathematical recreations sufficient. No single motivation can satisfy everyone. A motivation that is meaningful for one may seem vacuous to another, and some motivations are not positive. In modern society or times, science and technology are used to justify ecological and ethical acts which appall some students.
Students see that the environment is under threat.
Many leading elements of our society busily trying to survive today have the attitude that tomorrow does not count. Students see the use of technology and science in the creation of war machines. Students fear that there will be no jobs regardless of what they study. And students excelling in literature and word-based subjects may find the symbolic and algebraic exposition of mathematics itself and of quantitative disciplines alienating an abstract art. Their teachers in schools and colleges may be powerless and insecure cogs in bureaucracies that go forward without allowing initiative.