Is this right? Is this a list of things students do not learn in school? If not, why not? I think we do a pretty good job of addressing many of the things in this list:
- Life is not fair. Get used to it.
- If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss.
- The real world will not care as much about your self-esteem as your school does. This may come as a shock.
- You will not make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You will not be a vice president, and you may even have to wear a uniform that does not have a designer label.
- Flipping hamburgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for flipping burgers. They called it opportunity.
- It is not your parents’ fault if you mess up.
- Before you were born your parents were not boring. They got that way paying bills.
- Life is not divided into semesters. You do not get summers off, and you do not get a summer break.
- Vaping does not make you look cool.
- Your school may be “outcome-based,” but life isn’t.
The author of this list is unknown, but the list has been published online by a Christian-based publisher that I follow and read. I can't be sure of the goal in publishing this list - probably something to encourage homeschooling - but I am happy to say that I try to cover these issues in our class each year. Along with soft skills and asserting your ideas respectfully, these are the kinds of things schools should be including in their social skills, civics, history, science, communication, and career readiness classes. These make up at least part of a message about personal responsibility.
Perhaps there is a political message here, as well; I suppose that is possible. Maybe someone is asserting in this list that you are not entitled to something that you do not deserve or earn. I don't know if that is political or not. We used to call this, if you didn't learn it early, the School of Hard Knocks. It's probably best that you learn this now, and not wait until you expect something that you're not going to get.
Yes, be a child while you are a child - live in Neverland for a while longer - but realize that there will come a time when you have to step up to the plate, toe the line, and work hard.
Perhaps there is a political message here, as well; I suppose that is possible. Maybe someone is asserting in this list that you are not entitled to something that you do not deserve or earn. I don't know if that is political or not. We used to call this, if you didn't learn it early, the School of Hard Knocks. It's probably best that you learn this now, and not wait until you expect something that you're not going to get.
Yes, be a child while you are a child - live in Neverland for a while longer - but realize that there will come a time when you have to step up to the plate, toe the line, and work hard.
