Reliably and consistently teaching the party-trick ability to identify individual notes? Now that’s a programme that’s not worth anybody’s time! 
Identifying individual pitches is pretty much useless when put alongside harmonic awareness, sounds of keys and modulations…hell, even the ability to sing teaches a lot that’s more important than knowing your G sharps from B flats.
I don’t disagree with you here, but I think reduce “perfect pitch” to a party trick is being just a tad dismissive, almost smacking of sour grapes. Like I said, I don’t have perfect pitch, I don’t think it’s necessarily an important skill to have, but I can’t help but think that it would help in a deeper appreciation for music. It can, apparently, also drive you nuts when a cassette tape player is 1/4 step or more off. (At least that’s what they tell me–I sometimes think they’re just trying to make me feel better for not having AP. :))
So, sure, I’ll take someone with well-trained relative pitch over perfect pitch any day. But I have to think that AP can be a little more useful than as simply a party trick.
Not that this means anything, but maybe I could shed some light on things.
I took the perfect pitch test (the discovery channel one). I did pretty well. Additionally, if you give me a keyboard, I will start playing things on it. I’ve even did a tablature for a song before, then checked it against already-existing tabs. It was right. I figured out the tab on a keyboard, not on a guitar. And, according to my husband, I sing on pitch. I don’t sing well–the quality of my voice is crappy and untrained–but I’m on pitch.
The sum total of my musical “training”:
Two clarinet lessons.
Half a year of chorus in 7th grade.
Maybe five guitar lessons.
That’s it. I can barely read music; I certainly can’t look at a note on a page and hear it in my head. Hell, when I did the test, I was comparing all the notes to “The First Noel” in my head. When I did my half-year in chorus, I had to play all my pieces on the recorder so that I could sing them correctly the first time through. I don’t know if there’s anything unusual about this–but if there is, it bears mention; my mom has nearly perfect pitch.
I’m certainly glad I don’t have the “Ewwww, they’re not playing at 440” reaction that some people have. I’m glad that I’m aware that I’ve just got a well-trained ear. But I do wonder what real extra appreciation can be gained from the ability to identify note names and chords in isolation - does it give that person any greater insight into why they’re used in a particular way by a particular composer?