I have come across a wonderful piece of information that you can use to amaze your friends. It definitely falls into the category of ‘not many people know this’. I wouldn’t know it myself but for Brian Stevens, chairman of Finance and Education Services (FEdS). He shared the information during a welcoming address he gave at a reception to launch the Goodison Group’s programme for 2005 and beyond.¹

Of course, there is usually a very good reason why something is known by very few people – because it is boring, for example, or because it is highly specialised, or because it is incomprehensible, or because it is top secret or because it is useless. But I contend that this piece of information is none of these things – and it could be the answer you need to clinch a pub quiz or to triumph on Who wants to be a millionaire? Aside from these exciting possibilities, it is certainly something you should boast about knowing if you are a professional teacher, trainer or developer. The question to hold yourself in readiness for is this:

Who first used the expression ‘the 3Rs’ for reading, writing and arithmetic?

The answer is Sir William Curtis, when he was Lord Mayor of London in 1795. Sir William, a Member of Parliament for the City of London for 28 years, was a successful merchant but not a particularly highly educated man and, apparently, he had his leg pulled for his inability to spell (there are always some people who insist on missing the point!).

As if that piece of information wasn’t fascinating enough, it turns out that Sir William was plagiarising! He was adapting an earlier version of the three Rs that formed a triangle: reading and writing; arithmetic and reckoning; and wrighting and wroughting (as in being a wheelwright, shipwright, cartwright and a fashioner of metal).

Sir William’s adaptation was, however, highly significant. It marked an interesting shift from the original version, where academic and vocational activities existed happily side by side. Sir William’s revamp of the three Rs retained the more academic Rs and dropped the vocational ones (odd really, in view of the fact that Sir William himself was non-academic). Holding academic pursuits in higher esteem than anything vocational or hands-on was an increasing trend right through the 1800s and, it can be argued, is still an issue today. Here is the relevant passage from Brian Stevens’ remarks.

Since the mid-19th century, we have developed a culture that divides thinker from craftsman, academic from vocational and trade from learning. We are the only country in the world that has Chartered Institutes. The Victorian universities would not contemplate that learning could be associated with trade.²

I certainly didn’t realise that Chartered Institutes were unique to the UK. Nor did I appreciate that they emerged in order to bolster vocational pursuits and make them more respectable in the face of academic snobbery.

As we all know, over the last two or three decades in particular many initiatives have been taken to redress the balance – current examples being the Tomlinson Report³ and the QCA’s new Framework for Achievement.⁴ Attempting to close the gap between academic and vocational activities is vital for many reasons. To quote Brian Stevens once more: ‘This is about social equality as well as employment; we cannot afford, socially or economically, to leave potential untapped.’

So, you see, knowing the origins of the three Rs opens up a fascinating piece of history with far-reaching consequences that remain highly topical today (and, by the look of it, for some time to come).

FEdS and the Goodison Group are seeking to bring together the three communities of business, education and government to stimulate debate on key lifelong learning issues. Their starting point is that lifelong learning should be the normal expectation of every individual. They hope to provide a mechanism where serious debate can flourish between employers, educationalists and government. They plan to publish an annual report of their work and findings that they hope will be useful to policy-makers in all three spheres. Definitely a space to watch.

By the way, I feel I should warn you against putting ‘the 3Rs’ into your Internet search engine (unless, that is, you have nothing better to do for an afternoon). Sir William could not have guessed he was starting a thriving three Rs industry (he should definitely have applied for a trade mark!). Three Rs have certainly proliferated. Here, to whet your appetite, is just a small sample.

* For academic survival – read, record, recite.
* For dealing with customer complaints – respect, respond, refund.
* For designing course materials – real, rich, relevant.
* For education – reinvestment, reinvention, responsibility.
* For environmentalists – reduce, re-use, recycle.
* For families – rules, roles, relationships.
* For play-reading groups – read it, rate it, rite it up.
* For success in business – rapport, repeat business, referrals.

And then, inevitably, there are some people who are not content with just three Rs. Dr Bill Lucas, for example, has five of them for effective learners – resourcefulness, remembering, resilience, reflectiveness and responsiveness. (And, by coincidence, he talks about these himself in his ‘Mind your brain’ series, see page 20.)

Of course, I can’t resist adding my three-penny worth. My three Rs for producing this column are: write, ramble, rewrite. This will no doubt come as something of a shock if you thought my column was meant to be revealing, really useful, relevant. Oh well, the truth will out!

References
1. To find out more about the FEdS and the Goodison Group telephone +44 (0) 1483 427255, e-mail feds@feds.co.uk, visit www.feds.co.uk or write to FEdS, 147 High Street, Godalming, Surrey GU7 1AF.
2. FEdS, ibid.
3. To find out more about the Tomlinson Report visit www.14-19reform.gov.uk/
4. To find out more about the QCA’s Framework for Achievement visit www.qca.org.uk/10710.html

Dr Peter Honey, FRSA, FCIPD, FIMC is a Chartered Psychologist and founder of Peter Honey Publications. He can be contacted on +44 (0) 1628 633946, at peterhoney@peterhoney.com or visit www.peterhoney.com

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