One possible atypicality, is that Harvard freshmen have had unusually "excellent" pre-college teachers. Teachers clearly presenting well-organized information

One possible atypicality, is that Harvard freshmen have had unusually "excellent" pre-college teachers. Teachers clearly presenting well-organized information in an easily-accessible manner. And so are less likely than students with poorer teachers, to view understanding as something one creates for oneself, by wrestling with the material. So the wrestling of active learning is interpreted as a teaching fail. And the class overlaps and emphasizes the rude awakening that their pre-college learning strategies are no longer sufficient.