The three Rs


The three "R"s refers to three basic skills taught in schools: reading, Writing|riting and 'rithmetic. The phrase appeared in print as a space-filler in "The Lady's Magazine" for 1818. While it is sometimes attributed to a speech given by Sir William Curtis circa 1795, the publication The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction casts doubt on this. Since its original creation, many others have used the term to describe other triples.
The skills themselves are alluded to in St. Augustine's Confessions : nam illas primas, ubi legere et scribere et numerare discitur. 'Ciphering' translates differently and can be defined as 'transposing', 'arguing', 'reckoning', a 'secretive method of writing', or 'numerating'.

Origin and meaning

The phrase "the three Rs" may have originated in a speech made by Sir William Curtis in 1795, but this origination is disputed in the publication The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Volume 5. An extended modern version of the three Rs consists of the "functional skills of literacy, numeracy and ICT".

Etymology

The phrase 'the three Rs' is used because each word in the phrase has a strong R phoneme at the beginning. The term is ironic, since someone with rudimentary language education would know that two of the original words do not actually begin with the letter R. The third R was more probably Reckoning, not as is more usually stated 'Rithmetic. Reckoning was a Victorian term for mental arithmetic and had been in use as such since the 14th century. The educationalist Louis P. Bénézet preferred "to read", "to reason", "to recite", adding, "by reciting I did not mean giving back, verbatim, the words of the teacher or of the textbook. I meant speaking the English language."

The four Rs

In the United States during the 17th century, religion was added to the list of basic skills. The curriculum in the common schools of the New England colonies was summed up as the "four Rs": Reading, 'Riting, 'Rithmetic, and Religion.

Other uses

More recent meanings of "the three Rs" are:
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