Science is also for artificers.
Also people aren’t necessarily able to monetize their interest in science. Maybe if there were no barriers like people needing to pay for education, food, shelter, transportation, medical care, and the air they breathe then maybe a larger portion of those people would be the mage they want to be or at least closer to it. As it stands you are right, but things can be different than they are right now
Maybe whales know something we don’t. They have land ancestry, so they started as something in the ocean came out for a bit and decided to go back