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 $60,000 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.
Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity.
Your grandparents had a different work for burger-flipping - they called it opportunity.
If you mess 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 thought you were.
So before you save the rain forest from the 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 abolished grades and they give you as many times as you want to get the right answer.
This does not 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 real jobs.
Be nice to nerds - chances are you'll end up working for one...
This was given in a speech by Bill Gates at a high school.
It was about things students did not and will not learn in school.
He talked 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.
It is very important that we teach our children how to live in the real world!
Hi Dale,
ReplyDeleteI read your writing and think about. It is not the same like years ago. (I'm in the same age as you). I have two kids (13 and 10 years old) and I try to give my best to explain and talk, and I open my eyes to the new and hope to find the right way. My thinking about the TV: this is a worst thing. The most people believe all is truth, but it's fiction. If you hear the news you must find the lies and therefore I read some newspapers and hear radio every day. I think it is good to be a blogger, because we hear a lot from different people and can talk (write). I like it.
All the best from me
Stefan
PS: nice picture
Hi Dale,
ReplyDeleteHow well I remember reading Gates' speech the first time. A lot of wisdom there...
I hope you're enjoying your trip and that all things are going well.
Cheers,
AM
Hi Dale,
ReplyDelete*L* I've received this in a forward before, and it's all so true. Good lessons for teens!
My e-mail is angelmb4db@hotmail.com. Hope we can arrange something!
CLAP CLAP CLAP......very good speech that..course i was skiving the day it was read out at my school...cant you tell...
ReplyDeleteA salutary lesson for all of us, not just our children. I'm only surprised BG had time to find it out given that he was such a wizz kid!
ReplyDeleteI can't help but agree, though!!
This is the sort of post that makes me happy, Dale. Thanks so much for that.
ReplyDeleteRemember our Sindy's standard remark about her life: "'s Not fair!". Well, Mr. Gates says it in a different way, and... "Better get used to it" (PT)
dale when you get a mo click on my audio link on profile and listen to derelicté withnail recite the bard..
ReplyDeleteaudio clip not link...
ReplyDeleteHi Dale,
ReplyDeleteThat is a very good speech, very true! Almost everything in that speech were things I had to learn the hard way.
Hope you have a fab weekend Dale! We're going south today and may not come back........ok, just not till Monday..have a good one and love to Angus!
ReplyDeleteDale, maybe I'm being alarmist, but Gypsy's post is alarming me! Have felt for a couple of days that all is not 100%. Maybe I'm imagining things....? What d'you think? xx Val
ReplyDeleteIt's OK, she's okay.sorry to worry you. Hope you're having a happy day, Dale. Looking forward to having you back in the loop again!
ReplyDeleteExcellent, i like true talk like that, helps bring people to reality, i like the harsh tone in which it is delivered too lol very regimental puts me in mind of Tyler Durden in Fight Club' quote "You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world"
ReplyDelete