Thanks for the comments, everyone! I don't really disagree on the "external factors" (getting a job, providing for your family, etc.). I think their role is overwhelming, and I say that in the post too. My point is simply to consider the role of pedagogy (and contrast the pedagogies of non-mathematical subjects in high schools in the US and India) and wonder if that has a role to play in the fact that so many "bright" students in India end up being engineers and doctors.

Perhaps, there's also a relationship between the external factors (probability of getting a job, job prestige, etc.) in a developing country and the style of pedagogy in schools that cater to the middle class, although at this point, I can't really think of a mechanism that makes things the way they are.