Is it unfair to ask my students to think?

As noted in one of my recent posts, I decided to semi-retire and teach computer science at the local university.

There's been an interesting trend of late among the students.  A lot of my fellow professors have taken note of it.  And now, we have a raging war on one my classes #slack channel about it....
The question boils down to the fairness of asking questions that were not directly presented in class and/or labeled as important enough to test.

I had a student tell me a question about writing a copy constructor for a class I defined was unfair since I hadn't "made them write copy constructors before."  To be truthful, I was really more interested in their ability to traverse and build an equivalent linked-list than the actual semantics of the copy constructor (something covered in the previous course); but the very idea that a student would challenge me on a question as being abjectly unfair because I had not "told them that they needed to know that" and that I had "never asked it before" really struck me.
I do tend to be transparent with my students about what's on the tests.  I very often label things as "important take-aways" that they should know both for their careers and for the tests. I release copies of all my old tests (mostly with answers) so they can have an idea of what things are important to me.  The things I ask about stay roughly the same, but the WAY in which I ask them changes with every exam.  I want my students to think and apply the knowledge -- not blindly memorize it.
In another class I'm teaching; a student directly challenged the professor in another section asking him to provide a detailed study guide with every possible question listed -- other questions, he felt, were illegitimate.  The idea of taking notes seemed foreign.  The idea of comparing notes with others to jointly work out what was important was not even a consideration.  In essence, he was demanding the professor to create the absolutely perfect set the notes for him.  Here, perfect meant that exactly the set of question they would be held responsible for.

It's not working well for the students.  The failure to progress rate (we call it DFW for D's, F's, and Withdraws) has gone from 5% to nearly 40% in some classes!
And there's the rub.  In this post-pandemic set of entering undergraduates, there seems to be both a weird passivity in learning and an active sense of entitlement.  Students seem to want to be told what the answers are so they can regurgitate them on demand and they mistake that for learning.  When asked to think, or take their own notes, or ask questions -- we get blank stares.  Maybe it's fallout from the pandemic when high schoolers would log in with zoom and idly consume information (if they paid attention at all) with only a light assessment (if any) of their retention.

At least this student took an active role in something -- not something productive, but at least they spoke up.  They actively defended their desire to be absolutely passive.  Perhaps it's a start :-)

And for you apes... when it comes to your job search, are you expecting to apply that same passivity?  I've been doing resume reviews and mock interviews.  There seems to be a strange inertia where students want to sit there and be asked only questions that they know the answer to and are shocked when we ask them to think. 

Remember to be a steward of your own career -- it starts with taking charge in an interview and guiding your interviewer through your skills and talents that you described in your resume.
You can't be passive.  Take charge!
Best,
GG