(Alleged) advice from Bill Gates
As the story goes, "Bill Gates gave a speech at a high school in which 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."
I don't believe this actually came from Bill, but I like it anyway!
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 and you won't be a vice-president until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait until 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.
I don't believe this actually came from Bill, but I like it anyway!
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 and you won't be a vice-president until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait until 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.
posted by Ted Demopoulos at 9:56 PM
Comments on "(Alleged) advice from Bill Gates"
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The Hairy Beast said ... (Thursday, January 11, 2007 10:02:00 PM) :
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Ted Demopoulos said ... (Thursday, January 11, 2007 11:30:00 PM) :
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CCJohn said ... (Friday, January 19, 2007 11:28:00 AM) :
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Anonymous said ... (Monday, February 05, 2007 3:08:00 PM) :
post a commentTed, does Bill still think you are "your OWN Uncle"?
I'm not sure Bill remembers our encounter. He may have blanked it from his mind to preserve his sanity!
Bill Gates had a Plan. That's what got him where he is today. Here's a quote from CCJohn's speech to the readers of The Ted Rap. You can pretty much ignore it, though. CCJohn's unemployed.
1. Life is not fair -- get used to it. Have you ever heard this coming from someone with his car in a ditch? Or someone who's just lost his job? Talk to me then.
2. The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself. When you accomplish something, you're entitled to feel good about it. That's why teachers get paid the big bucks. That's why in this country no one's fired except for good cause.
3. You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school and you won't be a vice-president until you earn both. Unless you're President Bush. Oh yeah, he was never Vice President.
4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. And if you think a boss is tough, wait until your boss thinks you walk on water but has to fire you anyway. Unemployment is tough. Bosses are easy.
5. Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity. And that's how guys who know what they're worth get ahead in the world, by flipping burgers until they advance. Oh. Wait. That's why no one works as a janitor for more than 2 years.
6. If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them. What about when bad things happen to you that aren't the result of any mistake by you? How do you learn from those? You learn that the bad things that happen to you are your problem and your fault because that's what everyone will tell you. They learn from their mistakes, which is why bad things don't happen to them, no Sir.
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. One of the symptoms of watching too much sci-fi on TV is thinking there is any comparison between your parents' lives and your own. Or even your own past, and what's going to happen next. If you think following your parents' path is going to show you where to go in life, there are many people your parents' age who'll sell you the used cars to get there.
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. Naah, real life always lets you succeed. Bill Gates knows this.
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. Yeah! What does a job have to do with your life?
10. Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs. Unless they just give speeches to stupid people. God, stupid people never learn. Especially stupid homeless people.
11. Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one. And listening to him whine about his divorce.
Although the list of "eleven useful rules you did not learn in school" is typically attributed to Bill Gates, it is actually from the book "Dumbing Down our Kids" by educator Charles Sykes.