Bottom of the News… Friday, March 19, 2009 “11 Rules for Kids”

Good morning my fellow Rotarians. Just this last week it came out in the news that Bill Gates is now the #2 richest guy on the planet, now behind a telcom guy from Mexico. Gates still continues to be popular as a speaker at high school graduations. He shares 11 Rules every kid should know that they never hear in school. His speech talks about feel-good, politically correct teachings that sets up a concept of reality for kids that typically results in real world failure. Here are Gates 11 Rules…

Rule 1: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop or the bar and go to jobs.

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 your own assistant 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 cleansing the critters living in 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: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one!

There you go, 11 rules to share with your kids as our Bottom of the News Friday, March 19, 2010. ###