The relevant question, for one who does want to produce great work, is not whether grad school is suited more towards conscientious professionalism than truly novel, ambitious work, but whether it is a better day job than your other options. There are many circumstances where grad school is a fine place to stabilize the ebb and flow of creativity. There are smart people, exciting people, young people, old people, quiet spaces, interesting places, filled libraries, helpful secretaries, lab space, scholarships, grants, cafeterias, late cafes, open projects, secret projects, rich people, hackers, artists, scientists, writers, politicians, playwrights, music, sports, and a reasonable story that you can use to answer family questions about 'what you're doing with your life'.
There are problems, though. There's a lot of pressure to do things that are either in the academic norm, or are part of the academic fashion. Unfortunately, such things tend to get popular after the first people start getting interested in it, who often cover so much ground that there's little to do. So you need to stay away from academic groupthink if you want to do good work there -- but otherwise, it's a good place.
There are problems, though. There's a lot of pressure to do things that are either in the academic norm, or are part of the academic fashion. Unfortunately, such things tend to get popular after the first people start getting interested in it, who often cover so much ground that there's little to do. So you need to stay away from academic groupthink if you want to do good work there -- but otherwise, it's a good place.