3Rs, 3 A’s and 2 Ss

I’m not certain when the 2 S’s joined the 3 R’s but I’m convinced that evolution is complete. I will routinely discuss educational theory with anyone who ask. This week I was ask to share my philosophies in the school I served for over 30 years.

I grew up believing education consisted of the 3 R’s – reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic. And for me, they came in that order of importance. As I became increasingly involved in an educational platform, I began to think in terms of the 3 A’s – Academics, Athletics and Activities. Not necessarily in that order. The order depended upon the student’s needs and his or her inherent talents.

To avoid any cognitive dissonance, I placed the 3 R’s philosophy, a philosophy I felt had served me so well in my early education, as a subcategory of Academics. But it is the last two A’s that I believe teach a student the cooperative and interactive skills that are required to successfully meet societies pending demands. It is those that prepare students to live in our competitive and comparative society.

These have been exceptionally important during the years in which “grade inflation” has denied a student an honest appraisal of how they stand compared to their peers.

Personally, I learned early on that I did not possess the math talents of some of my peers. When it came to history and writing, I had a knack.

Thus armed, I went to my meeting. After buzzing myself in, just inside the door, I was met by a young police officer. His physical definition and professional dress suggested he was well suited to his task. He stood on an elevated platform behind a raised desk. That and he was armed. That took me back a step. Armed.

This young man was not the school’s version of the Walmart Greeter.

Despite a quite cordial greeting, an aura of suspicion prevailed. I was asked for my driver’s license which was run through a scanner of some type or another, a photo identification label was printed and pressed over the polo pony on my shirt.

Now, in the absence of a metal detector, the emptying of my pockets or a pat-down, I was able to walk into my friend’s office with my pocket knife in my pocket. Maybe the old guy just didn’t present much of a threat. Just saying.

It was obvious that education had added the 2 S’s. Safety and security. I do understand education had these thrust upon it. In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs this pair is near the base. The student who feels unsafe and insecure will struggle to learn. The unfocused student and the distracted teacher.

Home again, I sat down and pulled the tab on my coke, then flipped a couple of peanuts into the yard. Soon a pair of squirrels were scurrying about. I suspect an insecure squirrel who feels unsafe would have difficulty abandoning themselves to all out play.

We spend our time searching for security and hate it when we get it. – John Steinbeck

Hal McBride writes a column, Just Thinkin’, published each week.