Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! To anyone with kids of any age, here’s
some advice.
Bill Gates 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.
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.