<p>Now come on, am I really painting with such a broad brush? Did I say that ALL humanities classes were easy and required little work.</p>
<p>I said it before, I'll say it again, many humanities classes are quite easy. Not all, I didn't say 'all', but I did say 'many'. I didn't want to name such classes, but looks like they have been named for me, so my exhibit one would in fact be the "Studies" classes, many of which I think we can all agree, and even a guy like conor would have to concede, really are quite easy to get a top grade without doing much work (note, I didn't say that ALL of them were like that, but I think it is indisputable that many of them are). And I would also point out that this is by no means restricted to just the "Studies" classes. Again, I don't think it's my place to name names, but I think somebody will be coming along to point out other non-Studies majors where you can skate by with very little work. </p>
<p>The general point is that, on average, technical majors, especially engineering majors, tend to be more difficult than non-technical majors. Conor, let me counter your example with a counter-example. You say that you only had time to read 20% of a book for a particular essay and you ended up with a 'C'. Well, hey, at least you passed. I know one Berkeley electrical engineering student who only had time to study about half the material covered on a particular exam - and ended up with a big fat 'F' on the exam. So here you are knowing only 20% of the material and you still pass, and this other guy who knows half of the material and fails. You tell me, where's the fairness in that?</p>
<p>And I think that really illustrates the crux of the matter. In humanities classes, and to some extent social sciences, as long as you put in a modicum of effort, you are going to pass. Maybe you won't pass with top grades (although with those 'Studies' majors, you probably will), but at least you'll pass. In technical majors, and in engineering especially, you can put in massive amounts of effort and still flunk out.</p>