For some reason Sykes' 11 Rules seem appropriate in our economy...

[mtraininjax]

From Charles J. Sykes, 2007 book, 50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School: Real-World Antidotes to Feel-Good Education:

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 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.

[Charles Hunter]

Good rules ... but not from Bill Gates; the actual author is Charles J. Sykes in his 2007 book "50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School: Real-World Antidotes to Feel-Good Education"

Snopes: http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/schoolrules.asp

[mtraininjax]

Charles, today's paper, Page A-11, states that these rules were originally created in 1996 by Mr. Sykes, but the list was not published in his book of that year, rather the list was published in newspapers around the country. Yes, then later in his 2007 book. Thanks for the correction.

[Adam W]

Charles, today's paper, Page A-11, states that these rules were originally created in 1996 by Mr. Sykes in his book, "Dumbing Down Our Kids:Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves, but Can't Read, Write or Add".

No mention of 2007.

It would have been odd for Bill Gates to time travel to 2007 to find the rules then go back in time to 2000 and say the rules to those young eager minds.

According to the Snopes article, the rules didn't appear in his 1996 book - they were published in newspapers but didn't end up in a book of Sykes's until the 2007 book Charles referred to.

[JeffreyS]

Good rules however.

[Adam W]

Good rules however.

True. I bet Judge Judy would agree, too. (I love Judge Judy).

[Charles Hunter]

Ah, the power of editing posts and even thread titles - makes subsequent comments appear nonsensical.

[Timkin]

Good rules however.

^ yes they are.  A slight bit of humor and a lot of truth to them .

[cityimrov]

From Charles J. Sykes, 2007 book, 50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School: Real-World Antidotes to Feel-Good Education:

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 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.

These rules aren't fully correct.  They make nice sounding entertainment points but for the most part, they are half-truths to life.   They are only correct under certain very narrow circumstances (irony?).  They are completely wrong in other conditions.

Take Rule 11, "Be nice to nerds."   Being nice to everyone is a good thing.  "Chances are you'll end up working for one."  That's wrong. 

Studies show that just being a nerds don't mean you'll make it to the corner office.  The ones that usually do?  Psychopaths. 

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Studies show that just being a nerds don't mean you'll make it to the corner office.  The ones that usually do?  Psychopaths.

I guess I'm dusting off 'American Psycho' tonight instead of 'Super Troopers'.  Dammit.