Rule #1:  Life is not fair - get used to it.

• Yes, but what a negative attitude.  Wouldn't it be better to recognise it and work to change 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.

• Personally, I'd rather live in a caring world.  In my view, the measure of a civilised society is how well it looks after its less fortunate members.

Rule #3:  You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school.  You won't be a vice-president with a car phone, until you earn both.

• Fair enough.

Rule #4:  If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

• True.  But teachers are generally caring people and are not tough at all.

Rule #5:  Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity.  Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping-they called it opportunity.

• Gee.  Wouldn't it be great if the world was a better place now than in our grandparents' time?

Rule #6:  If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

• Ok, and why can't the rest of us support you in that learning?

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 parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

• Yep, yep, yep.

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.

• Yes, isn't it a pity!

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.  You have to do that on your own time.

• So be sensible, work to live don't live to work and keep your life in perspective.  Remember and give priority to the things that are important, not just work because employers are just there to suck it out of you!

Rule #10:  Television is NOT real life.  In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

• This is really stating the obvious.  If our children are that dumb then I have no hope for the future.

Rule #11:  Be nice to nerds.  Chances are you'll end up working for one.

• Shouldn't we just be nice to everyone, not just nerds?