What are you talking about??? Scholar excels from the start. I can't speak for higher, as I just got it, however since you stated they are useless from the start, at lvl 30, you couldn't be further from the truth.

I leveled WHM first, still as boring as ever, so decided to try out scholar, way easier, between the pet and mp restore I end every boss fight at full MP, it's absurdly easy. The only thing I semi miss is esuna, but not for any damage over time lol, just not being able to remove stun, slow, etc.

Not sure what you are doing with yours, but I find SCH much more effective and fun.