Hello fellow educators welcome to podcast #95. This week we will be continuing a discussion I had with Joanne Robideau who is one of our campus school secondary teachers at Heritage. Joanne and I have been talking about a book entitled "50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School" by Charles J Sykes, senior fellow at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. This simple book or list gives real-world antidotes that address the modern trend in education to make sure our kids feel good, centered on building their self-esteem. As always I am very appreciative when you send your email comments about the podcasts. This week I had several emails and Bruce Hildebrandt's stood out. He writes:

"I just listened to this week's podcast and wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed it.  I agree that in life and in our schools we tend to do far too many things to "protect" students from pain, disappointment, and realizing the consequences of their actions. Often that "protection" actually does a huge disservice to them in the long run.  Many schools have done their best to remove competition, winners, losers, and even grades in order to protect the perceived fragile egos of children. How does this truly prepare them for life in today's society?

I agree that the role of the school must be to teach children how to navigate life, the good and the bad. Everything has a consequence. Some are positive, others negative, but everything has a consequence. Skip a semester of online assignments and the consequence is either work like a dog to catch up, or finish the course when you repeat it next year. Regardless of which consequence occurs, there is still a consequence.

Some of the points made remind me of points made by Bill Gates in a speech that he made to High School grads a number of years ago."

Before I read the list I need to point out that this list was, actually, not published by Bill Gates. This list was originally written by Charles Sykes the author of the book we are discussing. Someone started circulating this list with Bill Gate's name on it and it went viral over the internet. It became well know and inspired Sykes to publish the full 50 Rules. Sykes thanks Bill Gates for making the list famous thus helping him sell more books in the Preface. So here is the original list:

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 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice president with 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 nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Thanks Bruce. Here now is the rest of my interview with Joanne Robideau:

Audio Only

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