I think memorizing trivia is not much more than a quirky and mostly useless talent (that I don’t have, public school or not). But I will put my theoretical skills at comprehending special or general relativity up against the author’s or any of the fill-in-the-blank trivia “geniuses” any day.
Knowing the dates of historical events ( and why they are important ), is hardly "trivia"!
Being able to tie a quote, a character ( today, most people don't even understand what the stupid, uneducated insult, "UNCLE TOM" means, where it comes from, nor why it is inaccurate )from a work of fiction, isn't "trivia" either!
And nobody is claiming that knowing these things makes one a "genius"; it just makes one WELL EDUCATED!