Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-09-12
Three Cheers for 8 Rs

Three Cheers for 3 Rs
Three hurrahs for Superin-
tendent Corning and his sup
port Of the three RS. At last
someone in authority has seen
the deplorahle results of to-
days educationa al system.
Enough Of these so-called edu-
Gators who stubbornly defend
a curriculum so heavily loaded
with nonesSentials that read
ing. for instance. must be
learned at home or in re-
medal classes during the sum-
mer.
For a long time, parents
have seen the fallacy of an
educational system set up
for the amusement of the
child and lacking in good old
fashioned learning. Their own
children are their test cases.
They need no further evidence
that Johnny cannot read. The
educators can have their the
cries about teaching q child
word meanings. but I say if
he cannot pronounce the word
in the first place, the meaning
viii do him no good. Ask
your personnel departments
and bosses how well appli-
cants can spell, add and write
these days. That's the proof
at which the educators should
be looking. We do not want
to make mediocrities Of our
children.
So praise to DR.. Corning
who has seen the light and
exposed the root of the trouble
at last. Yes, our educational
standards do need to be raised,
and with such leadership as
his, they viii be.
\ 4 4 +
The school year has begun!
Thousands of children are
fiocking to the schools of
Washington and of its nearby
suburbs. What kind of an edu-
cation will they get? AS an
educator and citizen of this
great democracy, I am very
happy to see evidences of an
effort on the part of school
boards in Greater Washington
to overcome the educational
slipshodnesS and inefflciency
TALL over the country which
gave rise to the now famous
inquiry-"Why Can't Johnny
Read?"
Report systems have been so
vague and anonymous that
parents frequently have been
kept in the dark as to the
exact amount Of the failure Of
their children. Worse even
than this. is the custom Of pro-
noting children, whether or
not they have passed the work
Of their grade. BY the time
a child who failed to read IN
the first grade reaches the
third grade in the course Of
such fatuous promotion, he or
she is in a situation so bewil-
dering and frustrating as to
cause abnormal psychological
and behavior conditions. In
our own professional work, we
have had vivid proof Of this,
both locally and over the
country.
This habit. acquired during
the past few decades, of show
ing children on regardless, is
no doubt chiefly economic as
to its cause. School boards look
at it this way, ! suppose:
I'VE have to keep children
in the schools until q certain
age, anyway. The schools are
overcrowded, and we fail to
get funds for adequate build
ing and teacher budgets. SO
Just shove the pupils along and
out! Shove them along. re-
CARELESS Of whether they have
passed the work Of their
gradesI"
/ am happy to see that SUI
perintendent Corning, in his
address to over 5000 teachers
Of the District. stresses the
need for thorough grounding
in the three Rs, for a more
definite system Of marking,
and for q more frightened
policy Of promotion.
We have, as an American
democracy, incurred Of our
own volition the obligation and
responsibility Of giving mass
education. And we are the first
country in the world to pro-
duce mass culture (of a sort).
But now we have a formidable
rival in Communist Russia
which is striving so success
fully to give mass education
as TO cause US considerable
chagrin and alarm in the spe-
cialized field Of scientific
education.
I do not despair Of the final
attainment here Of a culture
which shall be not only uni
versal. but also Of high quality.
This is the goal toward which