I agree with everything you've said. I think you would understand my position better if I clarified that it was memorization of the lines I was being graded on

I agree with everything you've said. I think you would understand my position better if I clarified that it was memorization of the lines I was being graded on not the understanding of what the lines meant. That is the issue I took with the assignment. Learning C is an objectively better use of ones time than memorizing X because learning C requires that you think whereas memorizing X requires that you simply spend time committing the order of symbols to memory.