Yet, cheating is still rampant.
Yes. Having a piece of paper makes you more qualified when competing against thousands of people. Of course you can do other things to make yourself stand out by showing off your projects you've worked on, but that's a lot harder than gaming the system to get good grades.
As it stands now, a college degree is just a qualifier that tells companies "this person is willing to play the game that current society has established, and will make a better employee than those that aren't willing"
the biology courses were all sit down and listen to a lecture and write a test.
the art courses were very hands on and I had to initiate what I wanted to do within the confines of the assignment. And most importantly there was critique.
I think what makes a project a project is the ability for it to be critiqued by your peers and the instructor. It’s also much more engaging than sitting down and being quiet and watching an instructor say words for an hour or so.
I graduated with both degrees, but remember wishing more of my biology classmates had the experience of being in classes where there was the element of critique.