Tim, your comment rather echoes an article in
The Times a few days ago concerning the issue that some educators seem to regard the internet as a self-sufficient source of knowledge and therefore they don't need to teach knowledge, facts, and memorising skills, but only the tools of interpretation and criticism. The article I've linked to above is a shorter version of the original, which made the point that knowing how to use a spade is of limited use if you don't have a spade.
I confess that as I grow yet older I tend to store in memory where I can find facts more than the facts themselves, but I think that's just because as one grows older it just gets harder to memorise: e.g. my adult efforts to learn Italian are markedly less successful than my childhood ability to learn French and German (much of which I have managed to retain). It's a feature of aging. I know my young daughter has a sponge-like capacity to soak up information, as I once did.
While searching for the Times article above, I found across
this that I was not aware of but which suggests that Gioia's programme has crossed the water. However, nearly all government and educational initiatives here tend to be short lived, as they get pushed out by the latest bauble our leaders want to flash in front of our eyes.