Also, I was not guessing at some people's motivation for taking the class. It was widely known that for an easy A, one could take "Music Theory", Music Appreciation, Art Appreciation, etc....
However, all is well and I understand you point that to some people "Music Theory" is a great learning opportunity.
Music theory is an entirely different animal that art or music appreciation. In the appreciation classes, you look at or listen to, then discuss, and maybe write a paper or 2. Music theory requires one to actually compose sections of, or entire, pieces of music using the common era rules of voice leading, harmony and the like. Don't know where you went to school, but theory was no easy A, and I was highly motivated to learn the material (to this day, 25+ years after graduating from college, I still perform).