Six eights? Quick now!

Not sure about this idea that all primary school children should be tested on their times tables.  I think the question is whether times tables have any real relevance in an era when we all have access to electronic aids when doing calculations.  After all, learning your times tables is simply an exercise in memory - it doesn't make you a better mathematician, any more than learning a poem off by heart makes you better at English.  I get the impression that this is very much a matter of "I had to do this when I was a kid, so it must be the right thing to do".  But of course the world has changed dramatically since then.  My memory automatically tells me that six eights are forty-eight - so what??