Our schools have been disregarding content in favor of process for years. Furthermore, Hirsch says, there is no basis for accepting progressive ideas about how you teach children to think. The dismal record of student achievement points to the opposite conclusion. So does all the important research about how kids learn. This research has shown that there is no such thing as an all-purpose thinking skill.
Skills are domain-specific.
That is, you need specific skills to think about geometry that are different from the ones you need to think about American history. Moreover, the dichotomy between content and skills is false. You cannot think without facts and information any more than you can bake a loaf of bread if you have a recipe but no flour or yeast or water. And, generally speaking, the more well-stocked your mind is, the better able you are to make the connections that are basic to thinking. If, on the other hand, you lack the necessary information, what you read will be meaningless.