he is a long-term critic of american schools, and promotes ideas for improving the education of children. his "the schools we need: and why we don't have them" (1996) was hated by the liberal left. it also managed to annoy the right wing because it attacked the local control of schools. in 2016 he published " why knowledge matters: rescuing our children from failed educational theories". this outlined three major problems with education in the united states. these are, according to him, the emphasis on teaching skills, such as critical thinking skills, rather than knowledge, individualism rather than communal learning, and developmentalism, that is, teaching children what is "appropriate" for their age.