I wouldn't go so far as writing off all of history as rote memorization. Being able to write an intelligent analysis of the political climate leading up to WWI is a very different thing from knowing what year Ferdinand was assassinated.

And yet having that level of understanding won't do you much good in a class about the American civil rights movement. But if you can't remember the product rule or how to do integration by parts, it'll keep coming back to screw you for years.