I think a major problem is that most education "experts" (the type policy makers listen to, not practicing teachers) are upper-middle-class kids who had their parents teach them the basics of phonics and times tables. Who else would get a PhD in education?
They went to school, and found learning these things a massive waste of time, because their parents had already set them up to succeed, but they don't realise it was their parents doing all the work and it's not a waste of time or just "common sense" to the kids who didn't have the same home environment.
The bottom of the average of SAT scores of college attendees is the top 30%+ of students; Master's and PhD's are even more elite. This is like saying "the defensive line in the Cleveland Browns are the worst NFL players in the country": they're still NFL players.
Your misunderstanding is a great example of why we need better statistics education.
62% of recent high school graduates attend college (Bureau of Labor Statistics). 1 in 1,282 high school football players joins the NFL (0.078%). Your math is wrong by almost two orders of magnitude.
Attending college does not make one "elite" and equating the likelihood of getting a degree in education with the likelihood of joining the NFL is nonsensical.
That doesn’t necessarily negate their point. What % of students attend a four year college that requires the SAT? If a student attends junior college they wouldn’t need an SAT (among other pathways to college that don’t require it).
They didn’t source their statistic so it could just be made up but I think the general point that those that achieve an EdD were above average students seems likely.
They went to school, and found learning these things a massive waste of time, because their parents had already set them up to succeed, but they don't realise it was their parents doing all the work and it's not a waste of time or just "common sense" to the kids who didn't have the same home environment.