Thanks, it clarifies the direction your thinking is taking. It appears that you don’t value specific facts nor the testing based upon them, probably because these details are available elsewhere (for connectivists – the internet). In principle, I would agree with this to some extent, but I think that some fact memorization is probably a good thing. It is probably a good thing to remember names: of people, events for example. The smart person you argued with probably placed a high value on the Boston Massacre event. In the same manner, other events/facts are of high value to different people.

I wonder if, in the process of exposure to facts, a learner does develop:

1. The desire to engage with ideas, combine them and make new ones
2. The belief that they are allowed to do this
3. The skills and literacies they need to do it.

Do you think this development happens?