Indeed.  That's 90% of students.  Even the good ones.

I remember sitting in ecmt labs with people just discussing with the TA or professor "what's the command for that? Do we have a test for that?" Having no idea what they were investigating or actually _doing_ 

Basically memorizing, _if problem, then run y command_

denlillaapan

No, that makes you a good student.  Thinking about the underlying assumptions is what differentiates an "economist" from a "technician".  When we were hiring for new faculty positions, sometimes people would say of a fresh grad, "That guy's just a technician," referencing the idea that they were good with the math, but they weren't thinking carefully about the underlying economics.