You have inferred something that may well be untrue.
A 40 year old mature student was last in school more than 20 years ago. Younger students were last in school as recently as 1 year ago. Learning is a skill and it's perfectly possible to be out of practice. There may also be some knowledge gaps because recent practices and knowledge are different to common knowledge 20 years ago.
It's also possible that mature students are more assertive about asking questions.
And also - what some of the students in a class consider "obvious" is not at all obvious to all of the class.
Of course if someone is showing clear evidence of dementia, that's a different issue.
A 40 year old mature student was last in school more than 20 years ago. Younger students were last in school as recently as 1 year ago. Learning is a skill and it's perfectly possible to be out of practice. There may also be some knowledge gaps because recent practices and knowledge are different to common knowledge 20 years ago.
It's also possible that mature students are more assertive about asking questions.
And also - what some of the students in a class consider "obvious" is not at all obvious to all of the class.
Of course if someone is showing clear evidence of dementia, that's a different issue.