To anyone with kids of any age, or anyone who has ever been a kid, here's
some advice Bill Gates recently dished out at a high school speech about 11 things
they did not learn in school. He talks about how 'feel good', politically
correct teachings created a full generation of kids with no concept of reality
and how this concept 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 40 thousand dollars 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. 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 parents' 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.