Charles Sykes is the author of DUMBING DOWN OUR KIDS. 
 He recently gave high school and college grads a list 
 of eleven things they did NOT learn in school. In his 
 book, he talks about how feel good, 
 politically-correct teaching has created a generation 
 of kids with no concept of reality and set them up for 
 failure in the real world. He continues to say that 
 we, as parents, have become too focused on making sure 
 everything is O.K. with our little sweethearts when we 
 should be giving them a boot in the seat of their 
 pants once in awhile. He says, raising "whiners" 
 shouldn't be our goal. You may want to share this 
 list with kids and parents you know. I think it is 
 right on... 
 
 
 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 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 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 parents' 
 generation, and there are some just like your 
 generation has some, 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; they'll give you as many times as you 
 need to get the right answer. This, of course, does 
 not 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 work. 
 
 Rule 11: 
 Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working 
 for one.