This doesn't really surprise me, although I think I'd sound lame trying to explain why. Some of my students here are actually similar. I guess stories are like what people who have the luxury to think about things not immediately relevant to their lives do, not what people who are never going get anywhere by thinking about it do. Sci-fi especially (and fantasy?) seem so much to be about grand causes or human advances, the sort of human striving that forgets the people on the low end unless it uses them as fodder. I think students here haven't historically taken a liking to sci-fi, either. Dunno if anyone's tried fantasy. But they're always thinking in terms of business/politics, if they're thinking at all and not more concerned about lunch or being one of the guys or buying new shoes or whatever. It's like being in public school again, with the constant question of, "But why do I need to know this?" every other lesson. And why do accountants need literature? Why do translators need philosophy? Yeah.