On the other hand, some introductory courses should NOT require memorization of any kind (e.g. anything in the humanities). As an example, the study of history is about seeing patterns in events and analyzing what was going on. Forcing students to memorize what year the Whiskey Rebellion happened in detracts from that goal. I majored in history, and never took a single exam that asked for a factoid.
Maybe you were such a good history student that you absorbed a lot of facts without consciously trying to do so. But in a course on 20th century history, for example, it would be reasonable to expect students which countries were on the Allied and Axis sides, who the leaders of those countries were, what years various countries entered the war, etc. A factoid is "a brief or trivial item of news or information". Many facts are not factoids.
I think the video
Roving Reporter: Canada is interesting, although we don't know how random the sample is. Harvard students, and students throughout the U.S., ought to know more stuff. (It troubles me more that Harvard students think various Canadian provinces are cities than that they don't know the capital of Canada.) But at least
Harvard Graduates [can] Explain Seasons 
.
