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Tarcristiel
January 18th, 2005, 01:21 AM
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 created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world. Love him or hate him, he sure hit the nail on the head with this!

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.


”Few now remember then,” Tom murmured, “yet still some go wandering, sons of forgotten kings walking in loneliness, guarding from evil things folks that are heedless.”

Prince Dol Amroth
January 18th, 2005, 01:46 AM
So some rich folks do know what life is all about..hmm...you learn something every day.

Tarcristiel
January 18th, 2005, 02:29 AM
Well, he wasn't born rich.


”Few now remember then,” Tom murmured, “yet still some go wandering, sons of forgotten kings walking in loneliness, guarding from evil things folks that are heedless.”

Byrhthelm
January 18th, 2005, 02:25 PM
Some fair points there, but I'd still rather read and heed the Hávamál.

However, the point about schools npt preparing students for life is well made, and is quite topical here in the UK! Yesterday the Govt's Chief Inspector of Schools made the point that some (note: some) independent (i.e. not Govt funded) Islamic schools were not teaching their students either the National Curriculum or about British Culture.
Thus leaving those students totally unprepared to participate in society once they had left school. Of course, he's now been branded as 'anti-Islamic' and even 'racist', as well as being 'unhelpful'.

But other, mainstream, schools are also failing their students, in much the same way as Bill Gates comments. Some schools no longer run competitive sports programmes, because those children who don't succeed may be 'emotionally scarred for life'; the same applies to competitive examinations.

Arathorn III
January 22nd, 2005, 12:57 AM
Wow....I love Bill Gates! :D

And regarding the schools getting rid of competitiveness...it's happening in Canada too...and it is the most rediculous, stupid, and harming thing....I hate what they are doing. Kids need to learn how to grow up, not be babied until they're old enough to go out into the real world.

Tarcristiel
January 22nd, 2005, 08:14 PM
Some schools no longer run competitive sports programmes, because those children who don't succeed may be 'emotionally scarred for life'; the same applies to competitive examinations.

I wonder how "emotionally scarred for life" those children will be when they're not capable of filling out a job application and thus end up working as street sweepers or flipping burgers?


”What his right name is I‘ve never heard; but he‘s known round here as Strider.”.

Ditz
January 22nd, 2005, 09:46 PM
It depends what kind of competitiveness you're talking about. In some schools if you don't win in every sport you get bullied by your peers and your teachers. You guys remember being 12? I NEVER want to go back there again in my life. I'm glad I was fairly good at sports because I remember we used to be like made to go on cross-country runs and do it in a certain time and it wasn't nice at all. Being forced into a specific activity and then being forced into competing is not good at all, there's significant research from the british psychological society that being forced into competitiveness that you haven't chosen can lead to a massive drop in self esteem. No wonder so many kids are being pushed into depression. We expect so much from them and then say "life's not fair. Get over it."