Charles Sykes is the author of Dumbing Down Our Kids.
He volunteered for high school and college graduates a list of things
they did not learn in school. In his book, he talks about how the
"liberal, feel good, politically-correct" atmosphere has created a
generation of kids with no concept of reality and set them up for
failure in the real world.
- Life is not fair; get used to it.
- The
world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to
accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
- 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.
- If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.
- Flipping
burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different
word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity.
- If you screw up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes. Learn from them.
- 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 blood-sucking parasites of your parents' generation, try
delousing the closet in your own room.
- 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.
- 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.
- Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
- Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
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