I think it would work - essentially, this is the entire premise of the simulation market; the only difference is a lesser emphasis placed on motor skills due to it being an RPG. Mastering Gran Turismo / Forza requires players to learn quite a bit about real-world vehicle dynamics, for example. The caveat is that, in your example, the cumulative knowledge required to develop the game would be equal to mastery of every in-game class. You would need several teams of expert consultants to create and model scenarios, much like TV shows that deal with medicine, military, forensics, etc. Realistically, it would make a lot more sense to narrow the focus to one or a few domains.

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/feature-articles/project-hip... basically this idea but with math

I don't think it ever came out though.

edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_in_the_Desert also comes to mind. Not specifically real world knowledge based, but advancement is generally tied to the user's real world skills (at least partially) rather than the normal fair.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trauma_Team is the closest I can think of in the medical field. I do not know particularly how accurate it is, but if you cut down the hand-holding and copious reference material it would fit the bill.

"Imagine World of Warcraft level obsession with mastering a dozen fields of science." That would be amazing. It might take off if it were framed as a regular RPG and the education was slipped in without highlighting it.

Or, on the other hand, if you scaled down your expectations to make it accessible to middle and high school students, rather than medical school students, it might become popular in schools - something like the Oregon Trail.