Some rules for a better life after High School
I has come across this list; it’s by Charles Sykes; not Bill Gates. Bill Gates’ list is one entry “Be born to wealthy parents”
----Whether you like Bill Gates or not…this is pretty
cool. Here’s some advice Bill Gates recently dished out
at a high school speech about 11 things they did not
learn in school. He talks about how feel-good,
politically correct teaching has created a full
generation of kids with no concept of reality and how
this concept sets them 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
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 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.
I’ve written my own list below with Better Rules that aren’t written by someone who has forgotten how to live.
Better Rules for Life
1) Life is fair, but there are people who will conspire to tilt things in their favor; but that isn’t life that’s society and the economy. The only thing you can do to fix this is participate and act fairly. There is no rule that you have to make life worse for others to make your own life better.
2) You should feel good about yourself, you don’t need external validation to find value in who you are and what you do. Alternatively, you should not seek for people to feel the same way about you that you feel about you. Let them be them and you be you.
3) It so happens that some people will find 60,000 dollar a year jobs out of high school, these people are the children of wealthy people and very smart children. If you are not one of these you will need to either marry into a rich family, be adopted by a rich family or study harder. There is no job that makes 60,000 dollars a year out of high school that can be obtained by the average or the non-achiever. Set your sights on something entry level if you don’t want to work hard.
4) Bosses are just employees like you for the most part; some are assholes, some are good. The difference between them and a teacher is a teacher is rewarded for babysitting about 120 kids a day in high school and is paid very little (in terms of unit price, if they were babysitting they would make a hell of a lot more) but a boss is paid for productivity as a whole, and is probably not a unionized employee. They may even be the enemy. A “hard” boss is probably not worth working for; see if you can be moved to another department, failing that, find a new job.
5. Some of your grandparents were conscripted into the Army and PTSD, they called it shell shock. Because they have largely forgotten what war is like they actively encourage young people to suffer for no good reason. Burger Flipping is a good job, that’s why there are so many middle aged people doing it now; it could be because of the economy too. Try looking for a way to make your own job, get good at repairs and woodworking and you’ll find a good job. If you are strong, lift things, fast, become a delivery person. There are a great deal of jobs out there, but try to find a job that can’t be done by machines. Machines will replace burger flippers soon.
7. Your Parents were probably boring when they were younger too if they are boring now; having kids doesn’t make you boring. Giving up does.
8. People who don’t have kids think that school has done away with winners and losers and don’t understand how soul-crushing it still is. It’s that way for almost everyone, that is because parents who have forgotten how school is appear in meetings and board elections make it that way. When you leave school get involved in school board politics as soon as possible so that it is fresh in your mind and help the kids who are still in there and make a positive change for their future (and present)
9. Life is EXACTLY like high school, there are cliques and cool kids and winners and perennial losers. When summer comes the office clears out for vacations and in winter it does the same. You just have to go to the office in summer too. That’s about it. Don’t let anyone tell you life is better in the real world, all it is is less rebellious and more early morning meetings.
10. If anyone things television is “real life” they should be sequestered and studied; they may actually be evidence of devolution. However, you should have realistic expectations and movies, and all media really create false expectations. Best bet for life is comfort, food on hand and enough money or credit to buy the occasional toy that makes you happy. Otherwise you need to find value in doing things and enjoying life. It’s probably better not to find value in objects, because they tend to get lost or broken.
11. Nerds were supposed to rule the world, turns out it was bankers and many of them are jocks. So, just be nice to everyone and try to get along.