What are the Foundations of Education?

When trying to determine what the building blocks of education actually are these days, people are going to have different opinions. When I was growing up, all I heard about were the three R's: reading, writing and arithmetic. I always found it humorous that only one of those three actually began with the letter R, especially since we were talking about a quality education, but there is a great point to this. The foundations of education are based on those three areas, and it is easy to see why.

I have always said that the most important aspect of a quality education is to have good reading skills. Reading is definitely one of the foundations of education, because it permeates every other aspect of learning. In other words, in order to be able to understand a difficult equation in math or to prove a really complicated scientific theorem, one has to have the ability to read. In order to learn about the history of the world and appreciate the arts and culture of various societies, one has to have solid reading skills.

Then there is math. Math is involved in practically every aspect of our lives and for that reason, it is one of the foundations of education that should be taught well. It does not matter if we are at the grocery store, if we are balancing our check books, or if we are trying to keep a score card at a ball game; math is necessary, and that is always what has struck me the most. We use math at work, in our leisure activities and in practically every other facet of our lives on a regular basis.

Of all of the foundations of education, writing is my probably my favorite. I have been writing since the age of 15 and it is something very near and dear to my heart. Writing, along with speaking, is how we communicate with others. I have found as I have continued to work that the ability to communicate with good writing skills is one of the keys to success. Strong writing skills should be cultivated early and nourished with frequent activities that include writing. If one can communicate effectively through the written word, the sky is the limit.

The foundations of education may be different for different people, but to me, the most important components are reading, math and writing. I truly believe that there is a reason that these have always been emphasized before anything else, and they are critical to a well-rounded education. While other subjects at school are certainly important, these three serve as the basis for everything else in school.