The following is an excerpt from the book "Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, Or Add." by educator Charles Sykes

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 $40,000 a year right out of high school.  You won't be Vice President with a car phone until you EARN both.

Rule #4
If you think your teachers are tough, wait until you have 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 is not your parent's fault.  Don't whine about your mistakes; LEARN from them.

Rule #7
Before you were born, your parents were not 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 room.

Rule #8
Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not.  In some schools, failing grades are abolished; the student has as many times as needed to get the right answer.  This does not bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING IN REAL LIFE.

Rule #9
Life is not divided into semesters.  You do not 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.