[nmrm]

> the information density of your typical lecture was such that a semester should be easily compressible to a dozen pages of typed notes. But that isn't to say, I don't think, that it wasn't difficult!

Oh how true!

> Or you can take interesting classes which might be challenging.

Yes. With flexibility comes the possibility of abuse. We shouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water.

I had quite a large humanities load in undergrad (majored in STEM fields, but with a BA), and purposefully took in-major, junior and senior level courses in art, English and history. There were pre-reqs but most instructors would waive them because the classes never filled. Others decided to take 100-level communications and business electives to fill the same elective slots. Even after taking graduate-level STEM courses, a junior-level art history course remains the most difficult course I've ever taken. The way the course was taught was a pretty intense combination of "right" and "left" brain thinking.

In retrospect, forcing students to choose to challenge themselves (or not) is probably the single best way to prepare students for the "real world", and probably not a bad predictor at success either.