Education: Forget the three Rs, it's the four Fs that are important

There's no getting around it, public education in the Anglosphere is in trouble. Australian teachers are queueing up for payouts. The U.S. system produces dummies. And British schools are mired in a "culture of low aspiration".

An oft suggested solution is more time spent on the three Rs - reading, writing and arithmetic - and less on the more touchy-feely subjects like gender equality. This obviously has some merit as employers often complain that high school graduates are functionally deficient in both language and number skills. I think that before school can properly concentrate on the three Rs there are some basic conditions that must be met: the four Fs. Once the Fs are satisfied, teaching the three Rs will be much more effective.

The four Fs all students must satisfy:

• Sit the f**k down.


• Shut the f**k up.


• Do your f**king work, or...


• Get the f**k out.

The education problem solved.