BILL GATES' 11 RULES THAT STUDENTS DO NOT LEARN IN SCHOOL

Williamson labs ^ | FR Post 1-24-05 | BILL GATES

[vannrox]

BILL GATES' 11 RULES THAT STUDENTS DO NOT LEARN IN SCHOOL

In Bill Gates' new book (Business @ The Speed of Thought), he lays out 11 rules that students do not learn in high school or college, but should. He argues that our feel-good, politically-correct teachings have created a generation of kids with no concept of reality who are set 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.

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• ULE 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 clothes 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 will ask 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.

[Personal Responsibility]

This is an oldie but a goodie.

[escapefromboston]

Don't forget: Save money by cutting your own hair.

[naturalized]

Nice, but has it been snoped?

[socal_parrot]

If you keep posting lists, you might make one. ;)

[JustRight]

Charles Sykes is the author, not Bill Gates. They are still good points.

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/liferule.htm

[speedy]

I had the same thought. It is attributed to a book, but sounds very un-Gatesian.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I smell an Urban Legend.

[Betaille]

Useful points.

[naturalized]

Sorry to rain on your parade.

But I like the sentiment.

[RebelBanker]

Urban Legend:
http://www.snopes.com/language/document/liferule.htm

[avg_freeper]

Actually Ted Nugent, Robin Williams, and George Carlin collaborated to write this after one of their sisters were bitten by a moose.

Always make sure you believe everything you read in your emails.

[LibWhacker]

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 clothes in your own room.

Isn't Gates a big lib? He'd never say this.

[Logic n' Reason]

Hear, hear!

Mr. Gates had lots in common with another rather successful gentleman; Mr. J.D. Rockefeller

[Martin Tell]

Snopes identifies this as an urban legend - not from Gates.

"This list is the work of Charles J. Sykes, author of the book Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, Or Add. (The list has appeared in newspapers, although not necessarily in this book.) Many versions of this list omit the last three rules:

Rule No. 12: Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look moronic. Next time you're out cruising, watch an 11-year-old with a butt in his mouth. That's what you look like to anyone over 20. Ditto for "expressing yourself" with purple hair and/or pierced body parts.

Rule No. 13: You are not immortal. (See Rule No. 12.) If you are under the impression that living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse is romantic, you obviously haven't seen one of your peers at room temperature lately.

Rule No. 14: Enjoy this while you can. Sure parents are a pain, school's a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you'll realize how wonderful it was to be a kid. Maybe you should start now. You're welcome.

[Freepdonia]

Why does Gates still (but not always) support Democrats? When he says something, it usually has its base from the conservative side of the aisle.

[Phatnbald]

From a man whose pappy was a bigtime lawyer who could send him off to Harvard, where he had the luxury of dropping out. Take it from a software company president who has two hard working and brilliant partners- (OK so they aint Ballmer and Allen) it's a lot easier to rattle from the perch he was sitting on than it would be from some ghetto somewhere in some godforsaken high school.....

You can be a plumber or a carpenter out of high school and do 40'gs and a car phone with ease. Try 400 G' and someone to hold your phone....

[Terabitten]

Actually Ted Nugent, Robin Williams, and George Carlin collaborated to write this after one of their sisters were bitten by a moose.

BS. They wrote it on cheese in the shower.

[Lazamataz]

I thought George Carlin wrote this.

[Freepdonia]

It's an urban legend? That explains why he supports Democrats still. :-)