These trends will never go away, when those Asian students are strongly motivated to do what their family/clan/tribe wants them to do. The high profile, high-paying jobs like doctor, lawyer, economist, etc. will bring home the most prosperity for their clan, so that’s very likely why they’re pressured to go into those sorts of programs (by the “Tiger Moms” of the world). 
Likewise, when Ethnic Asian monks who become Scholar monks (almost all of the ones I’ve ever met), they will likewise usually strictly do what’s in the best interests of their respective clan saving face at all costs: be a “Glass Bead Game” sort of Scholar, sticking closely to the “party line” of their lineage - never going anywhere close to all the controversial, embarrasing-to-some-lineage areas that are explained by bold, risk-taking white scholars like Bhante Sujato, in his essays and books (like “The Authenticity of the Early Buddhist Texts”, and “How Early Buddhism differs from Theravada: a checklist”). I too have taken risks in things I’ve said. White monks like us have no predominantly Buddhist country to whom we have a patriotic loyalty to, and we come from liberal countries where you can much moreso get away with expressing unpopular, uncomfortable-to-hear perspectives.
Anyway, the underlying patterns here (WRT the Asian students avoiding Humanities/Buddhist Studies, while not in the robes) seem to become more clear (at least to me) when you look at the clan interests these respectable people are serving, as opposed their own heart’s desire as to career/vocation/life path.
Having said all this, the Ethnic Asian monks I highly respect, who have a high degree of intellectual honesty (even when it makes for embarrassment to the clan) are monks like Bhante Vipassi, Bhante Aggacitta, Bhante Dhammasubho, and it seems @NgXinZhao also. The sometimes-fiesty MaeChee Mon (of Birken, Canada) also deserves honourable mention.