It is impossible to predict which concrete bits of knowledge will be useful in the future. Those who want to raise standards or "get back to basics" always try to implement their programs in terms of fixed curricula and those curricula inevitably run into problems when they try to get very specific about just what concrete bits they specify students should swallow. The point they miss is that what matters is not how well students can retain knowledge, but how well they can apply it.
We cannot create meaningful change by promulgating lists of knowledge. We must concern ourselves with how students should learn. How knowledge is acquired matters as much as what is acquired. When knowledge is acquired in service of a goal, it remains forever linked to that goal.
Where am I in the content of the book?
