The best way to help disadvantaged and minority children overcome educational injustice is to impart to them, and all students, a universally shared core of knowledge. Unless this is done, many disadvantaged and minority students will continue to lag behind their peers in academic achievement. Research has shown that systems that achieve…

In "Why Knowledge Matters," influential scholar E. D. Hirsch, Jr., addresses critical issues in contemporary education reform and shows how cherished truisms about education and child development have led to unintended and negative consequences. Hirsch, author of "The Knowledge Deficit," draws on recent findings in neuroscience…