<human>: Give me a shortened version of the text

So I've got this Anthropology professor who told the class that the way to get good grades on the quizzes and exams is to memorize and regurgitate what we read in the textbook, as a means of demonstrating our critical reading and analysis of the material. 

Now maybe I'm just missing his point, but it seems to me that memorization/regurgitation is certainly not the same thing as comprehensive understanding. If anything, it seems like that would be the *least* effective way for us to demonstrate our understanding of the readings.

He feels differently, as he frequently marks wrong or gives incredibly low scores because of words that don't fit his definitions to a T (I was given a zero on a written quiz for using the word "gender" instead of "sex"). The irony of course is that we respond to the same prompt for every quiz: Briefly discuss anything you read about in the chapter. That's it. No specific questions to answer or terms to define.

Needless to say I'm a little baffled.
<bot>: Anthropology professor thinks regurgitation of memorized information is the best way to demonstrate one's understanding of the reading material. What do you guys think?