Photographers Developing Film - should they know how to do it?

Recently in a forum post I saw a photography student as why he had to learn how to develop film when digital is such the rage?

This makes memories come to me.

In highschool in the mid 90's I doubled on my art electives and never took a foreign language class and took a photography class, I learned to develop my own film. Then in college I took a photography class and did it again with my own Canon Rebel camera.

I think it is important to ask yourself " where does history come from?"

This student wasn't obviously thinking of respecting the craft of photography and I think digital has let many guys with cameras hold this careless persona over having the title photographer or so-called photographer. If you are a photography student you should WANT to learn about photography, develop film, and love the craft of photography and understand where the first cameras came from and how they came to be (that digital thing and) what they are today.