Bill Gate's Rules for Life

Bill Gates has been wrong about many things in his life. This is the computer "expert" who said "640k of RAM is enough for anyone" and "The Internet is just a passing fad and won't last", but in this short talk he gave at a high school speech about 11 things they did not learn in school, he may just have spoken his most accurate and profound statement he has ever uttered. He will be remembered for many other things, but no truer words did he ever speak than these. In this speech, he talks about how feel-good, politically correct teaching has created a full generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept sets them up for failure in the real world.

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 50 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 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 the nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.