General Chat

Bill Gates speech to the kids at Whitney high School California. He gave a talk about how the feel good, politically correct teachings for kids with no concept of reality 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 &60,000 a year right out of School, You won't be a Director with a car phone until you earn both. Rule 4, If you think your teacher is bad 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 ffrom paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. 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 real life HAS NOT. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they give you as many times as you want to get it right, This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life. Rule 9, Life is not devided into semesters. You don't get sommers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that in 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. My daughter at Uni sent me that hope you enjoyed it as much as me. Sue

Thanks Susan, so very true. x tricia

Thanks for that Susan. Wouldn't it be wonderful if our Government issued those 11 points to hang in every Senior School Assembly point. My 16 year old grandson has started work as an apprentice plumber. He has been doing it for 3 weeks. Today he has been on the Gucci site looking for clothes. Words fail me. Jean x.

Thanks for that Susan, Just read it out to my 15 year old son and 14 year old daughter, you never know, they may take note. Think I just saw a pig fly past the window! Sue

Forget the teenagers leaving school, I'm going to let my 27 year old son read it! Julie

My 21 year old step son could do with reading this..... He's not worked a full month anywhere for the past 3 years!! Gets bored apparently!! And Jean, be glad that your grandson wants the nice things in life.... he will always need to earn money to pay for them!! ;o)

I'm Glad you all liked it I must confess I to read it my Son (21) and also to my very rebelias nephew who is 14 going on 2. Sue

I am going to read it to my twenty three year old daughter when i get home Linda P

Sue Thanks for that. I am going to copy it to send to a friend who has a 19 year old who does think flipping burgers is beneath his dignity. But does not worry about hassling his mother for money for his train fare to college, reckons his parents have ruined his life (because they want him to do some work!!) and is generally of the opinion that the world owes him a living without him having to make any effort at all. Bill Gates might not have been the best person to have said all this but he has put into words what a lot of people have been trying to say to their kids and not doing it quite as well. Kathleen

I agree! Here's another my friend printed off for me its a bit of a long one but still true never the less. YOU KNOW YOU ARE GETTING OLD.... aCCORDING TO TODAY'S REGULATORS AND BUREAUCRATS, THOSE OF US WHO WERE KIDS IN THE 50'S 60'S 70'S AND PROBABLY THE EARLY 80'S PROBABLY SHOULDN'T HAVE SURVIVED, BECAUSE.... 1. OUR BABY COTS WERE COVERED WITH BRIGHTLY COLOURED LEAD PAINT, WHICH WAS PROMPLTLY CHEWED OR LICKED. 2. WE HAD NO CHILD PROOF LIDS ON MEDICINE BOTTLES, OR LATCHES ON DOORS AND CABINETS AND IT WAS FINE TO PLAY WITH PANS. 3. WHEN WE RODE OUR BIKES, WE WORE NO HELMETS, JUST FLIP FLOPS AND FLUORESCENT CLACKERS ON OUR WHEELS. 4. AS CHILDREN, WE WOULD RIDE IN CARS WITH NO SEAT BELTS OR AIRBAGS; RIDING IN THE PASSENGER SEAT WAS A TREAT. 5. WE DRANK WATER FROM THE GARDEN HOSE AND NOT FROM A BOTTLE AND IT TASTED THE SAME. 6. WE ATE DRIPPING SANDWICHES, BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING AND FIZZY POP WITH SUGAR IN IT, BUT WE WERE NEVER OVERWEIGHT BECAUSE WE WERE ALWAYS PLAYING OUTSIDE. 7. WE SHARED ONE DRINK WITH FOUR FRIENDS, FROM ONE BOTTLE OR CAN AND NO ONE ACTUALLY DIED FROM THIS. 8. WE WOULD SPEND HOURS BUILDING GO-CARTS OUT OF SCRAPS AND THEN WENT TOP SPEED DOWN THE HILL, ONLY TO FIND WE FORGOT THE BRAKES. AFTER RUNNING INTO STINGING NETTLES A FEW TIMES,WE LEARNED TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM. 9. WE WOULD LEAVE HOME IN THE MORNING AND PLAY ALL DAY, NO-ONE WAS ABLE TO REACH US ALL DAY AND NO-ONE MINDED AS LONG AS WE WERE BACK BEFORE IT FOT DARK. 10. WE DID NOT HAVE PLAYSTATIONS OR X - BOXES, NO VIDEO GAMES AT ALL. NO 99 CHANNELS ON TV, NO VIDEOTAPE MOVIES, NO SURROUND SOUND, NO MOBILE PHONES, NO PERSONAL COMPUTERS, NO INTERNET CHAT ROOMS. 11. WE HAD FRIENDS - WE WENT OUT AND FOUND THEM. 12. WE PLAYED ELASTICS AND STREET ROUNDERS AND SOMETIMES THAT BALL REALLY HURT. 13. WE FELL OUT OF TREES, GOT CUT AND BROKE BONES AND TEETH, AND THERE WERE NO LAWSUITS, THEY WERE ACCIDENTS AND WE LEARNED NOT TO DO THE SAME THING AGAIN. 14. WE HAD FIGHTS, PUNCHED EACH OTHER HARD AND GOT BLACK AND BLUE; WE LEARNED TO GET OVER IT. 15. WE WALKED TO FRIENDS HOUSES. 16.WE ALSO, BELIEVE IT OR NOT WALKED TO SCHOOL; WE DIDN'T RELY ON MUMMY OR DADDY TO DRIVE TO SCHOOL, WHICH WAS JUST AROUND THE CORNER. 17. WE MADE UP GAMES WITH STICKS AND TENNIS BALLS AND ATE LIVE STUF, AND ALTHOUGH WE WERE TOLD IT WOULD HAPPEN, WE DID NOT HAVE VERY MANY EYES OUT, NOR DID THE LIVE STUFF LIVE IN US FOREVER. 18. WE RODE OUR BIKES IN PACKS OF SEVEN AND WORE OUR COATS BY ONLY THE HOOD. 19. OUR ACTIONS WERE OUR OWN, CONSEQUENCES WERE EXPECTED, THE IDEA OF A PARENT BAILING US OUT IF WE BROKE THE LAW WAS UNHEARD OF, THEY ACTUALLY SIDED WITH THE LAW - IMAGINE THAT. 20. THIS GENERATION HAS PRODUCED SOME OF THE BEST RISK TAKERS, PROBLEM SOLVERS AND INVENTORS EVER. THE PAST FIFTY YEARS HAVE BEEN AN EXPLOSION OF INNOVATION AND NEW IDEAS. WE HAD FREEDOM, FAILURE, SUCCES AND RESPONSIBILITY AND WE LEARNED HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL. THERE WERE THOSE OF US WHO HAD THE LUCK TO GROW UP AS REAL KIDS, BEFORE LAWYERS AND GOVERNMENTS REGULATED OUR LIVES, FOR OUR OWN GOOD. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE NOT OLD ENOUGH, I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT TO READ ABOUT THOSE OF US WHO ARE. THIS MY FRIENDS IS SURPRISINGLY FRIGHTENING... AND IT MUGHT PUT A SMILE ON YOUR FACE.... 1. THE MAJORITY OF STUDENTS IN UNIVERSITIES TODAY WERE BORN IN 1983 .... THEY WERE CALLED YOUTH. 2. THEY HAVE NEVER HEARD OF "WE ARE THE WORLD, WE ARE THE CHILDREN" AND UPTOWN GIRL BY BILLY JOEL ALL THEY KNOW IS WESTLIFES VERSION. THEY HAVE NEVER HEARD OF RICK ASTLEY, BANANARAMA, NENA, BELINDA CARLISLE OR EVEN THE BAY CITY ROLLERS ( WELL A SHANG A LANG TO THAT). 3.FOR THEM THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN ONLY ONE GERMANY AND ONE VIETNAM - AIDS HAS EXISTED SINCE THEY WERE BORN. - MICHAEL JACKSON HAS ALWAYS BEEN "WHITE". TO THEM JOHN TRAVOLTA HAS ALWAYS BEEN ROUND IN SHAPE AND THEY CAN'T IMAGINE HOW THIS FAT GUY COULD BE A GOD OF DANCE. THEY BELIEVE THAT CHARLIES ANGELS AND MISSION IMPOSSIBLE ARE JUST NEW FILMS OUT LAST YEAR. 4. THEY THINK THAT N-TRANCE "SET YOU FREE" IS A OLD SCHOOL SONG. - THEY CAN NEVER IMAGINE LIFE BEFORE COMPUTERS. - THEY HAVE NEVER HEARD OF PAC-MAN OR SPACE INVADERS OR BBC COMPUTERS THAT BAT 'N' BALL GAMES. 5. THEY'LL NEVER HAVE THOUGHT THAT JAZZ WAS THE SEXIEST AFTERSHAVE EVER. THEY WILL NEVER HAVE PRETENDED TO BE THE A-TEAM, RED HAND GANG OR THE FAMOUS FIVE. 6. THEY WILL NEVER HAVE APPLIED TO BE ON JIM'LL FIX IT OR WHY DON'T YOU. THEY CAN'T BELIEVE A BLACK AND WHITE TELEVISION EXISTED AND DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO SWITCH ON TELEVISION WITH A REMPOTE CONTROL. AND THEY DEFINITELY NOT UNDERSTAND HOW WE COULD LEAVE THE HOUSE WITHOUT A MOBILE PHONE. POOR THINGS!!!!!! I grew up in the seventies and alot of the above is true - we too made our own games up and played in the muck - that's still my favourite site on a child - A kid with a mucky face - we as a nation are too clean. It never did us any harm. Sorry that it is soooo long but i had to share it with you all. Tracy

That is so true Tracey, I know of a couple who pampered their son so much every time he got a speck of dirt on him, he was bathed his clothes changed if it was a little cold wrapped up in thick jumpers. and he always had a cold, the lady across the road had a child the same age (he was the youngest of five) she would stand outside with her son on her hips and all he had on was a nappy if he got dirty he stayed dirty for a while He never had a cold was never ill. Sue