University...stuck in the past

I'm in the middle of my exam period.
For anyone that has been hit with a succession of exams knows that you lose any social life and/or self control.
You're stressed about everything and you tend to take it out on the nearest person (i'm sure it has led to many break-ups).
It all comes down to a 2 hour exam which generally means at least 50% of your grade is based on 2 weeks of stress and trying to cram as much of your course into your brain and eloquently reiterate on paper.
It is, without a doubt, the worst aspect of university life there is.
It's also extraordinarily archaic.
The point of exams is to ascertain to the professor exactly how much you've absorbed during the six month course.
I'm taking a class (War and Peace in World History) which has given me 3 essays.
The first was a 1500 word essay on indigenous conflict.
The second was a 2500 word essay on suffrage and world war 1
and the third is my exam.
I received it yesterday and i have until the 23rd till i have to hand it in.
It's a 3000 word essay on a topic based around everything we have learnt during the course.
We're advised to write it under exam conditions (on a computer) but this can't be enforced.
We can write it over a period of days or in a 3 hour stretch.
This is the smart way to handle university courses.
However there is still a chance that all of this could be written by a family member in lieu of the student.
This is why we have tutorials.
Tutorials are ways for a professor to ascertain that his students are working correctly, doing the readings and writing proficient essays. Over the course of the semester it's easy for any professor to recognize whether or not one of his students is allowing someone else to write the essays.
If only all classes were like this.
No Stress
No Cramming
No Lashing out at the people near you
An easier, smarter university experience.

Now if you'll excuse me, i have exams to study for.

University: The best option for students?

Doing some course readings in the library today i commented to a friend of mine that my course that dealt with warfare throughout world history was very exciting and he should consider taking it up next semester. His reply was something that i've heard all too often in my short university life "I can't because it won't help my course". Warfare was a subject that he found fascinating yet because it had nothing to do with his Law degree it would simply be a waste of time and delay his degree by six months. Is university about creating passions for students or just simply allowing them to take the safe course in life?
Our universities are churning out more degrees now than ever before and the job markets in law, journalism and commerce are so full that simply having a degree is not good enough anymore. Degrees have to be more open so that students can enjoy the full range of studies on offer and possibly they will find a passion that they never knew was inside of them in the first place. Reading the text of Apple CEO Steve Job's address at Stanford university he talks of taking a class in calligraphy that had nothing to do with his degree but it awoke his passions and twenty years later that same calligraphy ended up on his mac computers.
Lets expand degrees so students aren't forced to constrain their passions to a particular subject.