I would add that HS math (and early college math) does tend to build toward pre-calculus and calculus, even though the general education crowd would probably get more value out of a curriculum that built toward statistics.

But a sound understanding of algebra, geometry and trigonometry are vital to understanding statistics. In a sense, because raw data is hard to measure, statistics converts data to shapes and then teaches you how to measure and manipulate those shapes. But you first learn to measure and manipulate shapes in geometry and trigonometry.

The reason kids are forced toward calculus is because calc is essentially the study of curved lines and shapes and so many subjects (like statistics and physics) involve the study of curved lines. But you CAN teach trig based physics and you CAN teach quite a bit of statistics without actually using any calculus.