For the last several years "learn to code" has been a meme (President Obama spoke to this on multiple occasions), and the "T" in "STEM" is "Technology." I don't think the "meme" is the problem.

Also, while I definitely am much more well paid as an engineer than I ever would have been as an academic, the quality of employment the field (in terms of opportunities available, working conditions, peers, and other factors) is a bit underwhelming, in my opinion. Without some pretty big changes in some of these I'm not sure we should blindly encourage "everyone" to seek an IT career.