All academic institutions, in all cultures, “frown” on students dropping out and “working” unless it is the right sort of work (e.g. teaching the subject you’ve been studying). If you drop out of a Ph.D. program in humanities and become something un-humanistic, such as a lawyer or a mechanic or a businessman, they are annoyed. You’ve abandonned the honorable and worthy life of scholarship for something as mundane as making money.
In a way not dissimilar for a yeshiva, within a short time, you are a distinguished alumni (even if you never finished a program), and would you care to make a donation?
Do you really think we are all that weird?
What’s different is that they are in cultures in which making money is the highest goal, and we are in a culture in which scholarship is the most respected activity. In their culture, women look down on marrying scholars since they fear poverty. In our culture, scholars are looked up to and have the easiest time getting shidduchim. In their culture, parents worry if “little Jimmy” spends all his time reading and not doing what they consider to be good “boy things”, and in our culture, parents are elated when “little Yankel” loves learning and isn’t really interested in sports or games or getting into mischief.