[the_af]

Students who pass who can't code aren't the ones doing the coding (clear or unclear) in my experience. When doing homework, these students focus on higher level concepts and let the people who love coding do the actual coding.

This is based on my actual experience at university, not a random guess. It's never a case of "teachers weren't strict about working code", it's a case of "student didn't focus on coding, let others do it". Note that in proper CS (as opposed to a "coding school" or bootcamp) this is semi-acceptable, since CS is much more than just coding.

I do find it puzzling, because how can you study CS if you don't enjoy coding? But surprisingly enough, a lot of people who study CS don't actually love coding. Some actually love maths.