FWIW, I don't think intro stats is easy the way I normally see it taught. It focuses on formulae, tests, and step-by-step recipes without spending the time to properly develop intuition as to why those work, how they work, which ones you should use in unfamiliar scenarios, how you might find the right thing to do in unfamiliar scenarios, etc.
Pair that with skipping all the important problems (what is randomness, how do you formulate the right questions, how do you set up an experiment capable of collecting data which can actually answer those questions, etc), and it's a recipe for disaster.
It's just an exercise in box-ticking, and some students get lucky with an exceptional teacher, and others are independently able to develop the right instincts when they enter the class with the right background, but it's a disservice to almost everyone else.
Pair that with skipping all the important problems (what is randomness, how do you formulate the right questions, how do you set up an experiment capable of collecting data which can actually answer those questions, etc), and it's a recipe for disaster.
It's just an exercise in box-ticking, and some students get lucky with an exceptional teacher, and others are independently able to develop the right instincts when they enter the class with the right background, but it's a disservice to almost everyone else.