Bill Gates, the Founder and CEO of Microsoft, is the richest and most
successful businessman in the world. In a recent speech to an audience of
high school and college students, he gave eleven (11) rules about what
goes on in the "Real World", that these students are not being taught in
school.
Mr. Gates concern is that our educational system has produced an entire
new generation of young adults coming into the workplace with no concept
of reality, and no concept of what "work ethic" means. Gates said he is
concerned that the "what" and the "how" our schools are teaching our kids
today, is accomplishing nothing more than setting these kids up for
failure in the "real world."
Gates said that what Microsoft Corporation, and the rest of their
industry, is witnessing coming out of schools into the workforce ".is
scary."

Gates' Rule #1: Life is not fair - get used to it

Gates' Rule #2: The world doesn't care about your self-esteem. The
world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about
yourself.

Gates' Rule #3: You will NOT make forty thousand dollars a year right
out of high school. You won't be a vice president with a car phone, until
you
earn both.

Gates' Rule #4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a
boss. Your boss doesn't have the luxury of tenure and has to produce a
bottom line profit ... or heads will roll.

Gates' Rule #5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your
parents and grandparents had a different word for burger flipping - they
called
it opportunity".

Gates' Rule #6: If you mess up, it's not your parent's fault, so don't
whine about your mistakes. Everybody is going to make mistakes because we
are all human - learn from them so you don't repeat them.

Gates' Rule #7: Before you were born, your parents were not as boring as
they are now. They got that way from changing your diapers, taking you to
the doctor in the middle of the night with ear-aches, paying your bills,
washing your clothes, feeding your face and cleaning up your mess. So
before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's
generation,
try cleaning out the closet in your own room, or doing the dishes.

Gates' Rule #8: Your school may have done away with academic 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 practice doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to
"ANYTHING" in real life.

Gates' 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.

Gates' Rule #10: Sitcoms on television are NOT real life. In real life,
people actually have to leave the coffee shop, the drink fountain, the
hallways, and produce work.

Gates' Rule #11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for
one someday ...