Why do you hate Scholar?

I'm having a very hard time seeing your vision for the job. White Mage is supposed to be the pure healer, and from the recent buffs I guess Astrologian is supposed to be a diety who holds life and death in her hands, but Scholar just seems bad.

We have to work twice as hard to keep the party alive because our potency is so weak, our shields are weaker than Astrologian (even though shields are supposed to be what sets Scholar apart), most of our new abilities can be viewed as situational at best, but in reality are pretty much useless... What am I missing? Where does scholar fit into your master plan for healers in the game? Or does it just not?