It is actually more sensible to write the minor pentatonic as 1 b3 4 5 b7,
because while Aeolian is the 'pure minor', it is by no means the most used minor scale in jazz and classical.
At jazz school we always write scales as they relate to the major scale because the major scale is a scale that everyone knows. So for instance if you want to teach the lydian augmented or somesuch to someone, you just have to say it's got a #4 and a #5

There are arguments against it of course. Some people, when teaching the C lydian augmented, instead of saying it's a C major scale with a #4 and a #5 would say that it's the third mode of the A melodic minor ascending.