I would agree if you mean learn what an algorithms does but not how to build it. I program everyday and rarely do I have to build an specific algorithm but knowing of them and what they do I need daily.
Just because a guitarist plays covers doesn't mean he wasn't playing guitar. Every time you build a syntactically-correct program, you were making algorithms. No one is suggesting you have to master linked lists to graduate--only that you should understand the very basics of how computers process information.
Just because your college course was called "Algorithms 101" does not mean those are the only algorithms or that your own code is not an algorithm.
