EDUCATION GOALS

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31082, 10 June 1966, Page 16

EDUCATION GOALS

Three Rs Not Eventhing’

"Although our primary Bchool teach rs realise and try to Impart to all pupils the sound knowledge of the three R’s that perfectionists expect, the very ordinariness of our community makes the task impossible,” the immediate past president of the Canterbury School Committees’ Association (Mr C. W. Memory) said in his address at the annual meeting of the association.

This had been his experience in the last eight years, he said. “From time to time we hear the opinion that the three R’s should be the end goal of our schools today,” Mr Memory said. “These people voice their opinion that our schools are failing in their job of educating our children if some of the children they meet show an apparent lack of knowledge of the three Rs.

“But, what a poor place our schools would be if pupils were kept back from the many cultural and creative lessons because, shall we say, they couldn’t spell. We know today that mental capacity varies for everyone, just as much as physical powers," he said.

“What if some people misspell words others consider easy, or make mistakes over arithmetic. Should that restrict their getting the grounding in musical appreciation or civic affairs or craft skills which are part and parcel of our school programmes today? “I think not, and so do< many others,” he said. “I do not suggest that our teachers slack on their task of imparting to our children as good a knowledge of the basics as the children can absorb. We, as parents, would never tolerate that.

“Indeed, if some way of raising the general level of this basic knowledge can be found without sacrificing the other aspects I have mentioned, then that way must be pursued with all the vigour our education system can command,” Mr Memory said.