Kevin Kay's Lecture

One thing that Kevin Kay said that bothered me was that student's don't need to know the state capitals. If it is something the student can Google, they don't need to know it. Throughout the presentation he emphasized the need for critical thinking. How can students do critical thinking without a base of knowledge. If you look at the hierarchy of learning, the basic level is knowledge. Only after that level is reached can a student go on to higher levels. Another question I have, if the student doesn't need to know basic vocabulary because he can Google definitions, what will their reading level be?