Most people never use their math education higher than arithmetic. I don't see the point of teaching people math skills that they almost certainly will never use.

I'm not quite sure I agree that high school math is focused towards preparing people for calculus as opposed to statistics. All either one of them requires is a basic understanding of algebra. However, I would agree that mathematically competent people should be encouraged more to take statistics (particularly Baysian statistics).

Also: http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf