Charles Sykes
wrote for high school and college graduates a list of 11 things they
did not learn in school. In his book, Dumbing Down Our Kids,
he talks about how to feel-good, politically correct teachings created
a generation of kids with no concept of reality, and 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 grand-
parents 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; 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.
