11 Rules for the Modern teenager - Who Wrote - Bill Gates or Charles Sykes?

Who Wrote - Charles Skykes and Bill Gates  ?

In the mail box after about a decade again it was an alleged speech of Microsoft miraculous man - Bill Gates. Many have raised doubts about the origin of this mail. Some claim these to be words of Charles Sykes, Author of "Dumbing Down Our Kids". A few email chains attribute this to Kurt Vonnegut's sunscreen speech at a college graduation. 

According to Urban Legends website it is a pared-down version of an op-ed piece by education reformer Charles J. Sykes, originally published in the San Diego Union-Tribune in September 1996. It began making the email rounds under Bill Gates' name in February 2000, and has continued to do so ever since. Without going into the controversy we first read these Golden Rules because they are worth reading for all school and college students.

To anyone with kids of any age, here's some advice. Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school.

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. 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.

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 are. 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

Duncan Macleod Kiwi Posts

Duncan Macleod  in October 2005 on a website Post kiwi republished the work of original writer where 14 rules were mentioned. Following three are the additional ones.

Rule No. 12: Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look moronic. Next time you’re out cruising, watch an 11-year-old with a butt in his mouth. That’s what you look like to anyone over 20. Ditto for “expressing yourself” with purple hair and/or pierced body parts.

Rule No. 13: You are not immortal. (See Rule No. 12.) If you are under the impression that living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse is romantic, you obviously haven’t seen one of your peers at room temperature lately.

Rule No. 14: Enjoy this while you can. Sure parents are a pain, school’s a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you’ll realize how wonderful it was to be a kid. Maybe you should start now. You’re welcome

You tube carries a video claiming it to be a speech of Bill Gates.
Bill Gates' 11 Rules on U Tube

But this link has only text and stills of Bill Gates.


Other Posts :

Keep Spark Alive - Chetan Bhagat

Is your brain strong?

Will Anna held Anshan at this Jantar Mantar?