Bill Gates gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school.
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.
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.
Sometimes I feel badly that I can't give my kids everything that other parents can, cell phones, iPods, cars, whatever new gadget is all the rage, designer clothes, etc. But then I think you know what, they can earn it just like I have to. My parents always made sure I had the basics, like a roof over my head, food on the table, and clothes to wear and I even got some bonuses like being able to take dance lessons and got to go to music camp but they really didn't have to do that. I never had a job in high school because I knew once I graduated I would be working for the rest of my life. I moved out the summer after I graduated from high school, got a job and found a room to rent and was on my own. School of hard knocks, baby! Why do we feel compelled as parents to give our kids everything on a silver platter? I think those who really have to claw their way to the top have a better appreciation for their accomplishment and a more solid character.
2 comments:
My children earn what they get, they don't *deserve* anything but love, safety, full tummies and a home. Stephanie has a cell phone that she takes care of because she earned it through showing responsibility. A friend of hers is on her *third* phone since *CHRISTMAS*(one landed in a lake, the other was "lost" at school). Stephanie knows that she would be saying bye-bye to cell phone usage if she was this careless.
Do I *want* to give them everything? Heck yes. But I also want children who are level headed and don't expect things to be handed to them on a silver platter.
I love this list!
I'm off to print it and keep!
Michele
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