Words of Wisdom.

[eno]

Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! To anyone with kids of any age, here's some advice.
Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings have created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept will set them up for failure in the real world.

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 $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

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 thought you were. 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.

[Saitek]

Very good and very true. Being a student is the easy life.

[Hagar]

Excellent. Unfortunately I don't think the people it's aimed at will read it or take the slightest notice.

[TSC.]

Nice post eno, reminds of:

'I never realised my father was right, until I had a son who thought I was wrong'

Cheers,

TSC.

[Apex]

Hear hear!  Very good, and how true it all is.  I spent a lot of words during my lab tutoring days at a local college saying things like "Get it now, or regret it later."  I wonder if anyone ever got my drift.
One way or another, we all find out that there is life after school days are done.  It's a reality jungle out there.  Bring your brains along, you're gonna need 'em.  

[Romulus111VADT]

Though I agree with this 100%, by what Snopes.com says at - http://www.snopes.com/language/document/liferule.htm, ole Wild Bill never said it.... :-/

Sorry.... :-/

[dcunning30]

It's still good stuff, no matter the origin.  Here's what Snopes said that got omitted:

"Rule No. 12:   Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look moronic. Next time you're out cruising, watch an 11-year-old with a butt in his mouth. That's what you look like to anyone over 20. Ditto for "expressing yourself" with purple hair and/or pierced body parts.

Rule No. 13:   You are not immortal. (See Rule No. 12.) If you are under the impression that living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse is romantic, you obviously haven't seen one of your peers at room temperature lately.

Rule No. 14:   Enjoy this while you can. Sure parents are a pain, school's a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you'll realize how wonderful it was to be a kid. Maybe you should start now. You're welcome. "

[expat]

15. Wear sun screen!

Matt

[Mobius]

Excellent post Eno, every rule is a keeper.  Kids these days, I tell ya'....