This article discusses a case for teaching a kind of knowledge that is not in textbooks. The author calls on education leaders to take a crucial step toward getting students to use higher-order thinking skills by drawing a sharp line between firsthand and secondhand knowledge. The best way to do this is to focus attention directly on some part of the real world. To move beyond rote memorization and use a full range of thinking skills, students need to tackle issues straight out of the complex world in which they live. A focus on real-world issues can alter the entire culture of a school or school system. It enables students and teachers to experience the "meatiness" of the direct study of reality. And it shifts the emphasis from cover-the-material memory work to a full range of thinking skills. (Contains 1 endnote.)