Is it possible that the curriculum is maybe too high level for the students enrolled in it, but they are being made to enrolled in it without the path for an lower level course first?
I don't really have a great understanding of university course structure for reference.
Edit: Read some more comments bellow. Got my fill of theorizing about why students might be trying to take the easy way or why teachers might be struggling to educate effectively. Feel free to ignore me lol.
I teach as a tutor myself occasionally. You need to be able to understand and meet your students where they're at. Sometimes universities definitely do give teachers quite a challenging situation. But when you can't get your students to give a shit, you've failed as a teacher