11 things you do not learn in school

Yesterday I gave thanks for our teachers as we embark on another school year. Our children's education is so important, not only in the classroom but the relationship lessons that are learned along the way are just as important. Learning does not stop once you graduate, lessons of life sometimes teach us more than a textbook ever could.

Recently, I came across this list from Charles Syke, who authored DUMBING DOWN OUR KIDS. He volunteered for high school and college graduates a list of eleven things they did not learn in school.:

Rule 1: Life is not fair; get use 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 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. College either, most likely. You won't be a vice president with a car phone until you earn both.


Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get 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 screw up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes. Learn from them.


Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, washing your clothes, cooking your meals, and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.


Rule 8: 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, of course, doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.


Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off, spring and winter breaks, 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.

Mr. Syke has one thing right, we are never too old to learn from life. Some of us learn some of these things thru the school of hard knocks. Each lesson, as hard as it may be, is never in vain. God's word says that the testing of our faith will produce patience:

James 1:2-4 NKJV "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, {3} knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. {4} But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."

What hard lessons have you learned this week? Count it all joy! God has the master plan and He will teach you His ways if you open your heart to Him.