Some of my friends and acquaintances posted this picture on Facebook and lauded the points made on the list. I respect those who posted it and ‘Liked’ it and hope they won’t be offended if they read this. I still think very highly of them. Apparently we just disagree on whether we ‘like’ this set of rules. Some of those who posted/liked it work or have worked in the educational system. I worked in public education for awhile too. I believe this list is intended as a support to teachers who are tired of kids who have a sense of entitlement for very little work. I agree that it would be incredibly frustrating to encounter students who expect good grades just for showing up. I know those kids are out there. But is this the majority of kids today? I get a sense that this list of rules implies that it is. I’m dubious about this assumption.
A few things are wrong with this picture. First, Bill Gates did not develop these rules. These rules have been misattributed to him. The first clue is that his picture has obviously been cut out and placed on top of this list of rules. Oh, the magic of software. It also struck me as suspicious since, having worked in a school that received a Gates Foundation grant, I am somewhat familiar with Bill Gates’ philosophy on education. The picture didn’t seem genuine, so I did a very little bit of investigation. Indeed, if you check Snopes.com, you discover that these rules were developed by someone quite different, someone by the name of Charles J. Sykes, author of a book entitled, “Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Kids Feel Good About Themselves but Can’t Read, Write, or Add.” Another clue to the fact that this ad…er…list... is disingenuous: the website at the bottom – www.schoolofsuccess.in is the web address for a school based in India – one that Bill Gates has no connection to as far as I can tell.
Bill Gates believes in smaller schools; schools where students have the ability to connect with teachers in a meaningful way, to feel part of a community, and to engage in their own learning. The grant the school received when I was working there during the 2002-2003 school year was intended for altering the large, urban high school into 5 smaller schools in an effort to accomplish this goal.
Now, I intend to take on the list, point by point.
Rule Number one: “Life is not fair, get used to it.” Sure. I’ll give you that one. I tell my kids this too. Fair does not mean everyone gets the same things in the same ways. In schools, for the most part, educators are keenly aware of the fact that each kid is different, has different needs, and require different ways of getting from point A to point B. Not that it’s easy to teach in this manner when you have 25-30 kids in your class, but I believe educators know about this and many are excellent in providing a variety of instructional methods. I also believe that the statement from a child that, “It’s not fair!” is not new and is not gaining in frequency. This is a developmental issue. Kids are not only learning about themselves and their place in the world but they are also exploring the concept of justice. Their moral development is working. Surprise! They are not little adults. Don’t we already recognize this? It’s our job as adults to guide them through this developmental stage.
Rule number two: “The world doesn’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.” Really? This rule makes me sad. I think I understand the sentiment behind it, which I’ll get to in a minute. First, I want to point out that a world that doesn’t care about how people feel about themselves is a bleak world – one that I don’t want to be a part of. What I think this rule might be trying to get at is the concept of empty praise. Sure, empty praise is just that – empty. I think even kids pick up on it when a big deal is made over something small. Specific, well-defined praise is much more meaningful and provides much better feedback. Instead of saying, “Good job!” on a math worksheet, saying, “Ella, I can tell you have been working really hard and that you are grasping the concept of regrouping. Well done!” is much more effective. For the student who has a low score, obviously, “Good job!” is inappropriate. However, shutting him down is not effective either. Find something positive (and meaningful) to say at first – because self-esteem (confidence) IS important if you want a student to feel capable of accomplishing a task. Saying something like, “Jacob, I see that you got some of these correct. Perhaps you need to practice more to increase your score next time” would be more appropriate – and accurate. We don’t want kids to feel so worthless they stop trying, right?
Rule number three: “You won’t earn $60,000 right out of high school. You won’t be a vice president with a car phone until you earn both.” First, I’ll be petty. Car phone? You can tell this list is dated. And with that in mind, the $60,000 estimate of a hypothetical child’s expectations for the future must be adjusted for inflation. This list came out in the mid 1990’s. Taking inflation into account, the author is assuming a (today’s) kid is expecting to make $82,000 right out of high school. I’m dubious. I think more of today’s kids are expecting to have to pay at least that in student loans.
Rule number four: “If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss.” Teachers should have high expectations, no doubt. I suspect that all of us can remember having a jerk for a teacher at some point. Most of us have probably also experienced jerks for bosses. I’m okay if ‘tough’ means that teachers should have high expectations and provide quality instruction for students to meet them. I’m not sure about the author’s intent on this one. Is he saying teachers should be jerks to prepare them for bosses who are jerks? If so, his world view is depressing and unrealistic.
Rule number five: “Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it opportunity.” Teens can learn a lot about responsibility from having a job – even one where they are flipping burgers. Alright, I’ll give you this one Mr. Sykes. However, I have to point out that it’s fairly cliché for us parents and educators to tell kids to work hard in school because if they don’t, they’ll end up flipping burgers. Perhaps we should check ourselves on that one.
Rule number six: “If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes. Learn from them.” Okay. As long as parents are doing their jobs in raising good citizens. I am going to blame a parent of a ‘toddler in a tiara’ if her child develops an eating disorder at the age of 11, but yes, there comes a point when we need to take responsibility for ourselves. Agreed.
Rule number seven: “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 thought you were. So before you save the rainforest from the parasites of your parents’ generation, try delousing the closet in your bedroom.” Wow. I can relate to this sentiment somewhat, being a parent who, yes, has many days when I feel underappreciated for the hard work I do, but this sounds like a personal, vengeful statement – where is this venom coming from? When I feel underappreciated, and as though I’m not getting help around the house from the kids, I talk to them about it and I try not to be a jackass about it. Teach by example, right?
Rule number eight: “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.” I really take issue with this one. I am not sure exactly what he means by “winners and losers” in the academic setting. I’m confident in saying that high schools don’t have an entire graduating class of valedictorians and I’m okay with that. However, I don’t think it’s appropriate to have winners and losers, as a general rule, in the classroom. That doesn’t make sense to me. Teamwork is good, right? Even in real life. In the work place, those who aren't team players often lose their jobs. Those with different strengths complement each other in a team.
Regarding “abolishing failing grades” I can only guess at what he is referring to, which would be abolishing the practice of grade retention (repeating a grade). I agree with abolishing grade retention. Guess what? If Johnny didn’t meet expectations in 4th grade, repeating 4th grade and having the same material presented in the same way a second time (this time to a demoralized kid) isn’t likely to be effective. This sounds like common sense to me, but there is also a wealth of research that shows grade retention is ineffective and leads to higher rates of dropout. No, I’m not saying we should just pass Johnny onto the 5th grade and let him fail to meet expectations there too, I’m saying that this kid needs a well-targeted academic intervention. Give him the resources he needs (pull-out, small-group, or individualized instruction).
Now, about trying as many times as a kid wants. What is wrong with that? Do we not want our kids to try again if they fail? Do we really want our schools to encourage our kids to give up? “Bummer, Ethan. Looks like you failed one-digit addition. No, you don’t get another shot. Now try to keep up as we start two-digit addition.” “Jillian, it looks like you aren’t able to read, Go Dog, Go! Quit whining about how your parents never read to you when you were little. Learn from your mistakes and move on! Try to keep up as we start Tom Sawyer.” This doesn’t make much sense, does it?
Rule Number 9: “Life isn’t divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.” No, life is not divided into semesters, but we do have an awful lot of deadlines, don’t we? And you’re right, Mr. Sykes, we don’t get summers off in real life. Let’s go for year-round schools. I’m all for it. Now if only we could fund that transition. Finding yourself? Right, employers would rather have employees with a strong sense of self; those who took the time in their adolescence to work on it, a developmentally appropriate thing to do. If we squash kids’ ability to do that at the developmentally appropriate time, that task will be postponed until after high school when they (hopefully) have a job. It’s gotta happen sometime, Mr. Sykes. It’s what we humans do.
Rule Number 10: Television is not real life. In real life, people have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs." Yup. Can’t argue there. Agreed! Television is filled with garbage. Even reality television is unrealistic.
Rule Number 11: “Be nice to nerds. Chances are, you’ll end up working for one.” Fantastic! This is another one I’ll agree with. However, I will add that you should be nice to everyone and not just because you might end up working for someone in particular, but because it’s the right thing to do.
It’s fascinating to me how this list could possibly have been attributed to Bill Gates. Both Bill Gates and Charles Sykes are interested in education reform. However, I am extremely doubtful that Mr. Gates and Mr. Sykes would see eye-to-eye on much, particularly with regard to education reform. Mr. Gates has an edge over Mr. Sykes on education reform. Not only does Mr. Gates have a clearer understanding of what needs to happen with our educational system, he also has the ability, the influence, and the means to do something about it. He is affecting change and isn't just talking about it.
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