An excerpt from "Dumbing Down Our Kids"...
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Charles Sykes is the author of DUMBING DOWN OUR KIDS. He volunteered a list of things for high school and college students which they did not learn in school. His book is very interesting, as is his list for graduates. Read and enjoy. You can start by reading these to your kids as bedtime stories; that way, something might sink in by the time they are teenagers...if it isn't too late. (I emailed these to both of my little darlins!)
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 $40,000 per year right out of High school. You won't be a vice president with a car phone until you earn it.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait until 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 screw 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 paying your bills, cleaning your room, and listening to you talk about how idealistic you are. So, before you save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents generation, try cleaning out the closet in your 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, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life. Don't expect it to.
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 them.
Rule 12: Living fast and dying young is romantic only until you see one of your peers at room temperature.
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Have a great day {{{{{DGIVAHOLICS}}}}!
E!...doing my WB immitation this morning (and hoping he is sleeping in!) |
