<p>I think that what sakky refers to does hold true in many of the "Studies" majors, where substantive thinking is rarely involved in essay writing. However, I can tell you that this is certainly not the case in philosophy classes; if you can't correctly analyze an argument, raise pertinent objections, and answer them, you will get bad grades on papers, period. And most philosophy classes have final exams, so if you don't know at least some of the material, you will not do well. We have to distinguish between fluffy humanities classes and humanities classes that do require work. </p>
<p>For further example, consider the classical languages classes. If you're not good at Greek or Latin, can't do translations, can't remember vocabulary, and can't work with the languages on-the-spot on exams, you will not do well, period. So when we have these discussions about humanities, we need to make distinctions.</p>