这篇文章其实在网络上流传甚广，大家一定也会觉得非常的熟悉。许多人都认为这是出自世界首富Bill Gates之口，但微软却加以否认。后来有人查实，此篇其实来自美国作家Charles J.Sykee的《 Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can’t Read, Write , Or Add》一书。文中阐述了许多学生在教科书上学不到的道理，非常有启发性，发人深思。
These rules are for high school and college graduates about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school.
The 11 things are :
◎Life is not fair, get used to it.
◎The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.
◎You will not make $40,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice president with a car phone, until you earn both.
◎If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn’t have tenure.
◎Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity.
◎If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about our mistakes, learn from them.
◎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 parents’ generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
◎Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades; 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.
◎Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interesting in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.
◎Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
◎Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.
这些箴言是写给高中毕业生和大学毕业生的，列有11项学生在学校里没有学过也不会学到的事情。
这11项事情是：
◎生活是不公平的，适应它吧。
◎这世界并不会在意你的自尊。这世界指望你在对自己感觉满意之前先要有所成就。
◎高中刚毕业你不会一年挣四万美元。你不会成为一个公司的副总裁，不会拥有一部汽车电话，直到你将此职位和汽车电话都挣到手。
◎如果你认为你的老师严厉，等你有了老板再下结论吧。老板可是没有任期限制的。
◎烙牛肉饼的(下等)工作不会损坏你的尊严。你的祖父母对烙牛肉饼可有不同的定义;他们称它为机遇。
◎如果你陷入困境，那不是你父母的过错，所以不要尖声抱怨自己的错误，要从中吸取教训。
◎在你出生之前，你的父母并非像他们现在这样乏味。他们变成今天这个样子是因为这些年来他们一直在为你付账单，给你洗衣服，听你大谈自己是多么的酷。所以，如果你想消灭你父母那一辈子留下的寄生虫来拯救雨林的话，还是先去清除你房间衣柜里的虫子吧。
◎你的学校也许已经不再分优等生和劣等生了，但生活却仍在做出类似区分。在某些学校已经废除不及格分，只要你想找到正确答案，学校就会给你无数的机会。这和现实生活中的任何事情没有一点相似之处。
◎生活不分学期。你并没有暑假可以休息，也没有几位雇主乐于帮你发现自我。还是自己找时间做吧。
◎电视并不是真实的生活。在现实生活中，人们还是得离开咖啡屋去干自己的工作。
◎善待讨厌的人。有可能到头来你会为一个你讨厌的人工作。