[Alex]

Quality of teacher helps a lot for stats. Advanced statistics is incredibly math intensive but for the most part the type of stats you do in intro/seminar classes can almost be done without math. The math lets you get the exact answer but with proper guidance through the logic of statistics the approximate answers can be worked out in your head. So a teacher that gets through the logic first and follows with the math will, I find, be much more successful.

An understanding of basic statistics is an incredibly useful skill since the misapplication of statistics is probably the primary source of manipulation and misdirection used. It doesn't take a Ph.D's understanding of the field to see through a lot of misuse.