In this excerpt from How to educate an American: The conservative vision for tomorrow's schools, William J. Bennett argues that instilling knowledge, not just skills, is an important element of good schooling. In fact, developing certain skills actually requires a considerable amount of background knowledge. He offers examples of states that have made content knowledge an important part of their curricula and urges education leaders and policy makers to make a long-term commitment to working together on such efforts in their own states.