As things stand, we have most bochurim and yungerleit with good heads coming out of mainstream Yeshivos in EY and America having learned for 10, 15, 20 years and sometimes longer not being able to recall much more than where certain sugyas and memras come up in a few limited mesechtas. Shakla Vetarya? Forget it. Maskonas hasugyas? Unimportant. What counts? Er ken gut lernen. Er farshteit gut dem shtickle Ktzos.
The Birchas Avrohom (R’ Avrohom Erlanger a magid shiur in Kol Torah) has a sefer (sorry forgotten the name) in which he ‘haks’ tremendously against Magidei Shiur who instead of imparting to their students the ability to learn a daf Gemora Rashi Tosfos K’Pshuto, review and retain it, they are busy farkoifing to the young minds their Shticklech in Rambam.
He also writes that nowadays we have come to the ridiculous stage where if a bochur has some yedios in Shas he is considered having a weak head because he doesnt sit and kvetch all day on one sugya (to come up with Krum Boich Svoras that Rashi 3 dafim later explicitly discounts but which by the time they get to this Rashi (if they ever do – that is) they will have long forgotten as they are in the throes of kvetching out a new Shtickle Torah- my addition – from experience with chavrusos with this attitude)