Years ago, education was summed up using a phrase “The three R’s”. It was used to describe the foundations of a basic skills oriented education program within schools: reading, writing and arithmetic [reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic]. The phrase was used because each word in the phrase has a strong “R” (sound) at the beginning. The term is ironic, since two of the words do not actually begin with an “R”.
The role of the “R’s” in elementary education used to be beyond question. An example: How effectively could one teach geography, history, and science to students who could not read?
In the 21st century, those basic “R’s” have been replaced. Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Terry Bergeson, has identified the new three “R’s” as Relating, Representing and Reasoning. If so, it may explain some recent developments at the national level of government and legal system.
In a New Hampshire court this week, Judge Lucinda V. Sadler ordered a 10-year-old home-schooled girl described as "well liked, social and interactive with her peers, academically promising and intellectually at or superior to grade level" to attend a government school. The court sided with Marital Master Michael Garner who reasoned that the girl's "vigorous defense of her religious beliefs to [her] counselor suggests strongly that she has not had the opportunity to seriously consider any other point of view."
ADF-allied attorney John Anthony Simmons of Hampton stated, "The court is essentially saying that the evidence shows that, socially and academically, this girl is doing great, but her religious beliefs are a bit too sincerely held and must be sifted, tested by, and mixed among other worldviews. This is a step too far for any court to take." So much for reading, writing and arithmetic; they are no longer the focus of what is considered a proper and viable education.
Also in the news this week was a report of a government program targeting school children to help getting information for the U.S. census. “Census in Schools” is an all-out campaign opening across the nation this month and next. The message: The Census is coming and here's why everyone should care.
The Constitution mandates a complete population count every 10 years. Between January and March, the Census Bureau will help plan a week of Census education in schools where teachers will devote 15 minutes every day for five days to the topic.
However, the upcoming census questions have become very complex and very personal. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann from Minnesota (R) in an interview with The Washington Times, said that she will only fill out the number of people in her house during the 2010 Census. She is quoted as saying "I know for my family the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home, we won't be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn't require any information beyond that." Then again, children armed and equipped by a government program could exert pressure on parents to go beyond the required answer. If you don’t believe that, ask yourself why McDonald’s targets their ads to children.
The bottom line is that the societal landscape is changing right before our eyes…and changing quickly. People “professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22).
The only “hope for change” that our nations seems to so desperately want is found in another “R”—repentance. God specifically wrote the prescription: "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14.
I just wonder if we really know how to read?

