Letter: Schools must emphasize basics

Friday, June 13, 2003 | 5:29 a.m.

After reading articles in the Las Vegas Sun regarding the low grades posted by many of our local schoolchildren, I decided that attention should be called to the importance of basic education, sometimes referred to as the "3 Rs," for reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic.

The 3 Rs are like the foundation of a building -- they're support for everything that comes later. The basic 3 Rs are the foundation of a child's progress through life. Without them a child's life can crumble.

We must realize that all of the products we use today, computers, for example, stemmed from the minds of people who required education -- beginning with the basics.

What will happen if we stray from the 3 Rs? Return our schools to those basic lessons -- preferably taught on an old-fashioned chalk board -- and we will see a difference in our children's grades.

High school classes such as geometry and trigonometry will be much easier for the students who were taught the basics in earlier grades.

DEETHEL HORTON

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