50 Rules Kids Won’t Learn in School: Real-World Antidotes to Feel-Good Education
Update: There’s a website for the 50 Rules book. Go here!
Charles J. Sykes has long been one of my favorite chroniclers of our dumbed-down education and the corrupting effects of the self-esteem movement. I just received his new book, set for release on August 21, titled “50 Rules Kids Won’t Learn in School: Real-World Antidotes to Feel-Good Education.” Witty, acerbic, reality-grounded. It’s a great purchase for college-bound friends/family or parents with school-age kids.
A sneak peek at Sykes’ sage advice:
#1 Life is not fair. Get used to it.
#7 If you think your teacher is tough, wait until 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.
#15 Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it “opportunity.”
#42 Change the oil.
#43 Don’t let the success of others depress you.
#48 Tell yourself the story of your life. Have a point.
Each rule is explored with wise, pithy examples that parents, grandparents, and teachers can use to help children help themselves succeed—in school and out of it.
A few rules kids won’t learn in school:
#9 Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Life hasn’t.
#14 Looking like a slut does not empower you.
#29 Learn to deal with hypocrisy.
#32 Television is not real life.
#38 Look people in the eye when you meet them.
#47 You are not perfect, and you don’t have to be.
#50 Enjoy this while you can.
***
Feel free to add your own.
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It’s customary to tip cows 15%.
(Hey, Sykes and I are in Wisconsin…)
aj- Just win, Baby! Indeed.
**Don’t ask God to take away your Pride: Give it up.
**NEVER Pray for Patience: You’ll only get tested.
**Keep your powder dry and your saws sharp.
**Be like the Turtle: It cannot walk backwards.
**Be like the Bear: Catch what you need and leave the rest.
**Be like the Deer: Listen more than you speak.
**Be like the Wolf: Fight to defend and leave yourself an out.
**Eat when you’re hungry and rest when you’re tired.
**Learn the difference between reaction and responsiveness: know what to do when.
**You have enough time if you use it wisely.
**Guilt is a potentially revolutionary emotion.
**Shame kills.
**Thoughts are things. Think well.
**Never try to put cologne on a coyote.
**Go ahead. Bitch a little. Then get on with it.
**Laughter *is* the best medicine.
**”Rust never sleeps.”
**You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink, unless you punch it hard in the rump and make its face hit the water.
**If you’re going to be in the hog business then you best be smarter than the hog.
**Let your heart light your mind.
**If you had to pay a nickel for every breath you took, then you’d breathe a whole lot better than you do.
**To thine own self be true.
**When you get hurt say ouch. Then let it go.
**Your brain will deceive you but your heart never will.
**When you think you have the clout to get something done, best to make sure the hammer is in your hand.
**Our uniqueness is in our imperfections.
**Keep yourself between the ditches.
**Read the Great Books of the Western World and learn from the mistakes of others.
**Lost? Sit down. Shut up. Pray.
**Believe in something bigger than yourself.
**To give love is to get love if you KNOW love.
**Hold fast to the small things in life.
**Usually the only way out of something is to go back the way you came in.
**”Render unto Caesar….”
**The future does not equal the past unless you will it so.
**
There is only one person who has the power to prevent you from achieving your goals: You.
Never engage China in a land War!
only 50???
#x Never get involved in a land war in Asia.
#x+1 Never go in against a sicilian when death is on the line.
#x+2 The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
“Don’t do 20 mph in the fast lane”
#-1 In a city of 5,000,000:
less than 10 care what you think
less than 50 care that you are alive
less than 1000 know that you are alive
So having “the right stuff” to “show everyone” is not that hard or that important.
Cheap shrimp is no bargain.
- Conflict Creates Character. How much character do you have?
- You are never too old to get an education.
- The early bird catches the worm.
- Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
- It is better to close your mouth and be thought a fool, then to open your mouth and have it confirmed.
- Those who do not know their past are doomed to repeat it.
- Waste not, want not.
- A penny saved is a penny earned.
- Eat your vegetables, there are starving kids in China
- Talk to your children.
- Listen to your children.
- The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
- Never be afraid to say:
I love you.
I’m sorry.
I can do it.
Can I help you?
Can you help me?
jrl- i really like those pearls.
No matter what your friends say, Jon Stewart isn’t funny.
“Take time to stop and smell the flowers”
….being careful of Bee’s….
Thanks Bear…..
- Don’t wait for someone else to motivate you. Motivation comes from within.
- Experience often counts more than a degree.
- Anyone can be a manager – be a leader instead.
- If you’re someone who doesn’t believe in sacrifice, then no, you CAN’T be anything you want to be.
“No matter how you dress it up, Liver still Sucks”
“If you think you can Fly, start from the Ground”
Since when?
The only right Freedom of Speech carries with it is the right to open your mouth and say whatever wise or foolish thing is on your mind. Nowhere – be it governmental rules, regulations, laws or the natural laws that our creator endowed us with – is there a “right” to be listened to.
Responding to blogs is a waste of time!
govtdrone – I’m guessing that was a typo, and was meant to read ‘doesn’t'…
The only safe sex is with your spouce.
More important than learning what love IS, is learning what love is NOT.
lol soap, I don’t know falling off the fridge can be pretty dangerous!
Don’t smoke. It is an addictive habit that is hard to break and it DOES NOT make you look cool.
Travel as much as you can.
Oh, and always listen to the rambling stories your grandparents tell you. There are hidden lessons in there.
to governmentdrone
I am willing to bet dfern accidentally left out the word “not” after the word does. Otherwise I believe dfern would have written “carries with it”
If it is truly what dfern meant to say then it is very clumsily written.
Yep, if your wife is from Fayetteville, NC that is dangerous too. Remove the guns from the house!
To quote a couple of Journey songs:
-Don’t stop believin’
-Be good to yourself
…And a couple of REO Speedwagon songs:
-Roll with the changes
-Keep pushin’ on
My favorite saying is number 1 on the list, “Life is not fair. Get used to it.”
My second favorite I haven’t seen yet. “If everybody jumped off the roof, would you do it, too?”
jah and jrlingreenbay:
You’re probably right, but you’d be amazed at how many people think that dfern’s statement, as written, is true.
Which leads me to my little contribution to this thread:
If at all possible, don’t entrust your kids’ education to government schools and “union” teachers.
- Whenever you think you’re all that….
look at the clear night sky and start counting stars….then think again…..
#84 – When in doubt, pull it out.
Be respectful to your host because they invited you into THEIR home.
What they also will not learn in School.
The downside of diversity
A Harvard political scientist finds that diversity hurts civic life. What happens when a liberal scholar unearths an inconvenient truth?
Strange this has not got any MSM coverage. Well maybe not because it goes against their liberal thinking and I encourage you to read the whole article there.
On August 9th, 2007 at 1:53 am, 29Victor said
#x Never get involved in a land war in Asia.
#x+1 Never go in against a sicilian when death is on the line.
#x+2 The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
I laughed at #1 and #2 because The Princess Bride ROCKS!
I smiled at # 3 because it’s completely true. And should be Rule # 1.
The government does NOT have your best interest in mind.
Your enemies enemy is NOT your friend.
Always do your best…someone is most likely watching you for the first time.
I really don’t think this one rates as the same sort of universal rule as “life isn’t fair”.
Believe it or not, an awful lot of us out here live virtuous lives, believe in the Constitution, oppose illegal immigration, think Private Beauchamp should be drawn & quartered and generally agree with you on an awful lot of things…
… but still think that basing your life on something that runs contrary to every observable law of physics isn’t a great idea.
Felix, anything written by ‘The Kirk’ can’t be all bad, can it?
Here’s the rest.
Oh, and you remind me of another rule:
Don’t be so quickly offended by the religion that created you culture and is responsible for your current freedoms.
#whatever – Your heart will always lie to you. That is why God gave you a brain.
Jeremiah 17:9
Who’s offended?
All I said was that assigning “universal rule” status to belief in god (and a very specific god at that) is, well, wrong. Un-American too, for that matter.
Now you remind me of a rule:
Disagreement does not equal offense. Don’t assume it does.
The great Thomas Sowell once wrote that it appears that we have lost the ability as a civilization to disagree without being disagreeable, so I will credit him with the follow rule:
Learn to disagree without becoming disagreeable.
Just because you have functioning genitals does not mean you must use them…after all, you have a functioning brain and seldom use that.
I am buying this book so I can share it’s nuggets of wisdom in my classroom.
That would be its nuggets of wisdom.
I hate it when I commit one of my pet peeves!
re: #26 Regulus
Great additions! Especially these:
re: #52 bear1909
As usual, bear, you’ve shared some of your intellectual brilliance. I especially liked this one (the Biblical standard):
…but would add a little to it:
** Treat others as you would have them treat you, starting with your parents!
That is so NOT TRUE! There is no such “right” to be listened to.
If that were true, then my daughter (now grown) would have won every argument during her teen years.
Damn, bear, where’s all this coming from? You got a link? If your source is your own brain, how ’bout a link to that? (haha)
BTW, here’s my “prayer” for patience:
Dear God, please give me patience, and give it to me now!
And then there’s this:
Happiness is not so much having what you want, but wanting what you have. (Sorry, I do not have source.)
#96 If you send your kids to public schools, they will not learn anything.
Felix #140
Whenever a post begins with the smarmy:
and then goes on to take me to task for a point I didn’t make, I figure they are offended.
ScottyDog #148
I disagree with your point. Your kids will learn stuff in public schools, it will just be stuff that they shouldn’t be learning.
2 rules that kids will be encouraged to learn…”I’m not responsible”, and “I’m entitled”.
NeoConNews #28 – That’s don’t be the NEW guy in red on an away mission…
Do what you have to do first, then there will more time to do what you want to do.
I have to tell that to my first grader every day. Get dressed right away and there’s time to play before school. Get your homework done right away and there’s time to play before dinner…
Errah, Oldsmobiles don’t float and therefore were not used at Normandy.
James Felix, Well first, I’ve waded through a few good physics textbooks in my day and never found a law of physics that disproves the existence of God. Physicists are people too, they have opinions. The good ones know the difference between their opinions and the laws of physics. Finally, the overarching point of the book and this thread is that the most important things in life aren’t in the text book!