50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School

Charles J. Sykes offers fifty life lessons not included in the self-esteem-laden reality-light curriculum of most schools. Here are truths about what kids will encounter in the world post-schooling and ideas for how parents can reclaim lost ground---not with pep talks and touchy-feely negotiations but with honesty and respect. Sykes''s rules are frank funny and tough minded including:#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.