Things are as they are, not as you want them to be

You may already have come across an article by Charles J. Sykes called: “Some rules kids won’t learn in school”. The whole article is worth reading, but here are some extracts that seem appropriate for a Monday morning.

The original was printed in The San Diego Union Tribune in 1996. In the intervening 12 years, nothing has altered the truth of what Mr. Sykes wrote. That’s a little depressing, but I guess social revolutions take a good deal longer than that and the next one to affect us hasn’t even started.

Rule No. 1: Life is not fair. Get used to it. The average teenager uses the phrase, “It’s not fair” 8.6 times a day. You got it from your parents, who said it so often you decided they must be the most idealistic generation ever. When they started hearing it from their own kids, they realized Rule No. 1.

Rule No. 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait ’til you get a boss. He doesn’t have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he’s not going to ask you how you feel about it.

Rule No. 6: It’s not your parents’ fault. If you screw up, you are responsible. This is the flip side of “It’s my life,” and “You’re not the boss of me,” and other eloquent proclamations of your generation. When you turn 18, it’s on your dime. Don’t whine about it, or you’ll sound like a baby boomer.

Rule No. 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Life hasn’t. In some schools, they’ll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. Failing grades have been abolished and class valedictorians scrapped, lest anyone’s feelings be hurt. Effort is as important as results. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life. (See Rule No. 1, Rule No. 2 and Rule No. 4)

Rule No. 11: Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them. We all could.

That’s life, folks!

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