Monday, April 09, 2007

11 Rules of Life You Don't Learn in School

This is an excerpt from the book "Dumbing Down our Kids" by educator Charles Sykes. It is a list of eleven things you did not learn in school and directed at high school and college grads.

RULE 1
Life is not fair - get used to it.

RULE 2
The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world
will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel
good about yourself.

RULE 3
You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out
of high school. You won't be a vice president with
car phone, until you earn both.

RULE 4
If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a
boss. He doesn't have tenure.

RULE 5
Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your
grandparents had a different word for burger flipping
they
called it Opportunity.

RULE 6
If you mess up,it's not your parents' fault, so don't
whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

RULE 7
Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as
they are now. They got that way from paying your bills,
cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about
how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest
from the parasites of your parent's generation, try
delousing the closet in your own room.

RULE 8
Your school may have done away with winners and losers,
but life has not. In some schools they have abolished
failing grades and they'll give you as many times as
you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the
slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

RULE 9
Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get
summers off and very few employers are interested in
helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.

RULE 10
Television is NOT real life. In real life people
actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

RULE 11
Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for
one.

4 comments:

Alli Steen said...

hmmmmm, harsh and bleak words!! i have to admit i disagree especially with rule 1! "life is not fair, but never stop trying to make it so!!!!".

onelittlemustardseed said...

I agree Alli...we are responsible for our own happiness and for making change around us! I posted this as a tongue in cheek poke at some of the attitudes that do more harm than good.

To often though, people expect to have everything handed to them and working in a job that they might consider beneath them is scorned.

The reality is that life is tough and having a positive attitude and a will to achieve your dreams is the ticket to happiness...

There is an apathy in our society today that makes me sad. We are raising kids to believe that happiness comes from status and stuff!

When they face any rejection they struggle to cope with it. That worries me.

Elle Jay Bee said...

These rules actually came from a speech Bill Gates addressed to a grad class somewhere in the U.S. I think they are pretty much bang on. And to think we are partly to blame for creating this generation of "pampered children." Even though our children are "perfect", there really are some little causes for concern. Kids who feel they are entitled to all that their parents have achieved (by using a lot of plastic)...

Chris Kauffman said...

Love those rules, I agree with them .I always heard , sorry no one said life is fair , it's not nor does it have to be , if you wait for life to be fair , good luck with that.I am trying to instill in my girls to get what you want , they have to make it happen and that they should follow their dreams and go to college, one wants to be a zookeeper , the other I don't know I think Sophie will try to marry well:)