“The reason students are attracted to the open curriculum is because then they don’t have to stretch themselves.”
I totally disagree. The reason they are attracted to it is because they want more depth in the courses or subjects that interest them -which can also be a stretch.
For example, my oldest has zero interest in taking more languages - already fluent in one and conversational in another. He’d rather use those 3 or 4 spaces in his schedule to go deep into his major and minor, not because he doesn’t want to “stretch himself” on languages.