I'm pretty sure he isn't telling you how to get out of learning them, he's answering the OP about how it could have happened that a child wouldn't learn them and would instead have some other system.
Still it's pretty amusing to imagine him as a kid executing an elaborate plan to trick his parents into moving just to avoid learning parts of the multiplication table... ^^;
It sounds like you can swap school to avoid learning anything! Seriously, it sounds like a good way to avoid memorizing historical or political knowledge.
I was never taught politics in school. I learned Scottish history (where I am from) when I was way too young and have forgotten much of it, which is a shame when people ask me about it.