Being able to search for an answer is not the same thing as knowing the answer, and it does not contribute to being able to synthesize ideas from observation combined with knowledge.
Otherwise I don't disagree with you that this is where things are heading.
In a few more years we probably won't even be giving traditional grades in school anymore. What would they mean, other than that the student has enough Google prowess to look up the answers?
Well, typically open book tests are designed with that ability to search in mind, so the problems are much harder and designed to test understanding rather than memorization. They often are also much longer, so you cannot just search for everything and still get a full score.
Agreed. The value is in being able to know _what_ to search in conjunction with knowing _how_ to compose the amalgamated resources together to derive a solution to the question at hand -- all in a timely manner.
Simply knowing a generic fact (e.g. "the Civil War began in 1861" or "the atomic mass of Oxygen is 15.999u") is not sufficient. One needs to know how to use that information.
Otherwise I don't disagree with you that this is where things are heading.
In a few more years we probably won't even be giving traditional grades in school anymore. What would they mean, other than that the student has enough Google prowess to look up the answers?