I'm clipping and pasting something that came in this morning's batch of
e-mail goodies.  It seems appropriate.  If this puts me in the "elitist"
category, so be it.

Lala

RULES FOR KIDS

Today, our schools are infested with feel good, politically correct
teaching. This is creating a generation of kids with no concept of reality
and setting them up for failure in the real world. In his book, DUMBING
DOWN OUR KIDS, Charles Sykes provides a list of  eleven things for high
school and college graduates they did not learn in school. I am sure he
would be pleased if you share this list with anyone interested.

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 both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till 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, 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 want to get the right answer. This, of course, 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.

**************************************
Oralia Preble-Niemi,Ph.D.
Professor and Head
Foreign Languages & Literatures
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Chattanooga, TN  37403
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