For most of us “the three r’s” is old news but for those that may not know what it means, here goes: 1. Reading, 2. Writing, and 3. Arithmetic. Or as copied from part of the chorus from “School Days (When We Were a Couple of Kids)”:

School days, school days,
Dear old golden rule days.
‘Readin’ and ‘ritin’ and ‘rithmetic,

Now as I consider the way so many on line posts and e-mails are written perhaps things haven’t really changed that much. It’s not too difficult to imagine someone posting the following:

“Teh techrs trid tu tech me redin n ritin n rithmtic in skul but it wuz tu hard.” Wow, I believe the spell check needs tranquilizers after that.

Let’s revisit here:

‘Readin’ and ‘ritin’ and ‘rithmetic,

Teaching the “Three R’s” strikes me as a great plan to help the under privileged of a young nation (or any nation that has under privileged) get themselves closer to being on that “level playing field” (that I often see and hear reference to) with the “privileged”. It is the most efficient way for them to access opportunity, to reach beyond what they ever imagined for themselves and excel. Let’s face it, if you read and understand what you read you have a huge advantage over someone that claims they can read because with enough effort they can sound out the words.

Add writing to that and another whole universe opens up because you have a means of expressing yourself beyond the spoken word. And the more you write the better you write, the easier it is for your readers to understand your message, plus your writing becomes more enjoyable to read. My writing, however, may be the one exception to the above.

Arithmetic fleshes out the basics of an education. Very few types of employment these days could be done without at least basic math skills and I will speculate the majority require something beyond just basic arithmetic.

So where am I going with this? I have to chuckle here because where I believed this rant was aimed versus where it has actually gone are different tangents. OK, so I’ll save the other tangent for another rant.

Again, where am I going with this? It seems we have provided far beyond the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic in our schools for a good long time and still there are so many unable to read, write or do basic math. Not because the opportunity to learn is missing but maybe because an understanding of what learning can help you do is missing. Everyone has the opportunity to get closer to that elusive “level playing field” but so many choose not to. Could it be because the concept of a level playing field is wrong? After all, what do you do on a playing field? Yep, you got it – you play! Is that a good way to refer to real life? Is life something to be constantly played at? Isn’t living somewhat more serious than just play? Have we given students an inaccurate concept of what going to school and learning is about by equating living to playing?

I’m ranting here (it is after all my rant blog) and having some fun asking all these questions. Sorry but I don’t have the answers folks.