[Nomentatus]

The closest real world example of the Chinese Room I know about is Richard Feynman's adventures teaching physics in Brazil. His students memorized the textbooks and could manipulate the symbols, and answer test questions correctly,"because they were "almost exclusive teaching and learning by means of pure abject memory." They also never tested their knowledge against that of their friends in discussions, for fear of losing face.

Therefore, when it came to any experiment or application in the real world, the students were as hopeless as if they knew nothing. They had just been playing a symbol-swapping game.

http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/46/2/LatinAmerica.htm