I'm not defending what they did, but it's worth pointing out that electives aren't exactly universal. During my university I was allowed to choose exactly 4 cla

I'm not defending what they did, but it's worth pointing out that electives aren't exactly universal. During my university I was allowed to choose exactly 4 classes out of 6, in my last semester. Every single other course was compulsory. I never cheated, and looking back on it I'm glad I didn't, but I certainly did my share of useless learning. Edit: that being said, in a system where there is such a thing as non-compulsory courses, and the critical path to graduation is sane, cheating on an exam on the critical path should definitely not be acceptable, even if it's "only" memorization. Some things really do need to be memorized.