Rules for Teenagers


This year
All years
Charles Sykes is the author of Dumbing Down Our Kids.
He volunteered for high school and college graduates a list of eleven
things they did not learn in school. In his book, he talks about how
the 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. You may want to share this list with them.

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.

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, of course,
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.