Character Education

HEY KIDS, THIS IS THE REAL WORLD: THE 12 RULES THAT STUDENTS WILL NOT LEARN IN SCHOOL – Bill Gates

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 – Most of you will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. 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 until you get a boss (or during your life, many bosses).

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’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t complain 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, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you think you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent’s 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 may 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.

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. 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 – Remember, nobody wants to hear you whine.

Rule 12 – Be nice to nerds…chances are you will end up working for one! 

 

THE ECHO

A father and son were walking in the mountains. Suddenly, his son falls, hurts himself and screams, “Ahhhhhhh!!” To his surprise, he hears the voice repeating, somewhere in the mountain- “Ahhhhh!!”

Curious, he yells, “Who are you?” He receives the answer, “Who are you?” And then he screams to the mountain, “I admire you!” The voice answers, “I admire you!” Angered at the response, he screams, “Coward!” He receives the same answer.

He looks to his father and asks, “What’s going on?” The father smiles and says, “My son, pay attention.” The father screams, “You are a champion!” The voice answers, “You are a champion.” The boy is surprised, but does not understand. 

The father explains: “People call this an echo, but really this is life. It gives you back everything you say or do. Our life is simply a reflection of our actions. If you want more love in the world, create more love in hour heart. If you want more competence in your team, improve your competence. This relationship applies to everything, in all aspects of life. Life will give you back everything you have given it.” 

 

AMERICA, THE GOOD NEIGHBOR – Editorial by Gordon Sinclair

(Social studies teachers: Maybe this would be good to read or make copies for your high school students to read. How do your students feel about what Sinclair said?)

Canadian television commentator, Gordon Sinclair, wrote this commentary several years ago. He said, “I think is it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on the earth.   “Germany, Japan and to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries today are paying even the interest on its remaining debt to the U.S. When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris.

After World War II, the Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans. I would like to see one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the U.S. dollar building its own airplane without American technology and engineering leading the way. 

When earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes and other natural disasters hit distant cities throughout the world, it is the United States that hurries in to help. Last year, over 50 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody from other countries even offered to help.

Other than Russia, why does no other country even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese and German technology, and you get cars. You talk about American technology, and you find men on the moon, space shuttles and space stations; not once, but several times—and safely home again. You find more Americans discovering new frontiers in space and the oceans than any other nation. You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. No other nation has had so many “Nobel Prize winners” in a variety of fields.

America is criticized for sending their troops to far off lands where tyranny and genocide are the practice and not the exception—and whatever or wherever the armed conflict, they send more troops and commit more resources than any other nation. I can name you thousands of times where the Americans raced to the help of others. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced across the globe to the Americans in trouble? I don’t think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake in the 1980’s. (And what about outside help provided for our Hurricane Katrina victims?)

Our American neighbors have faced it all alone, and I’m one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their noses at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those. Stand proud, America!”

 

A PERSON OF CHARACTER…

·        Never runs scared.

·        Never makes excuses.

·        Learns from past mistakes.

·        Stands for what is right even when it is unpopular.

·        Demonstrates kindness, courage, perseverance, honesty, respect and responsibility.

·        Is a life toucher.

Character is real. You cant’ fake it. If you have character, you’ve got it made. If you don’t, no matter what else you have, it doesn’t really matter. Got Character? 

 

FTTLA (Funny Things To Laugh About)

·        I dialed a number and got the following message: “I am not available right now, but thank you for caring enough to call. I am making some changes in my life. Please leave a message after the beep. If I do not return your call, you are one of the changes!”

·        My wife and I had words…but I didn’t get to use mine!

·        It may be that your sole purpose in life is to be a warning to others.

·        Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

·        Any day above ground is usually a good one.

·        I can handle pain until it hurts.

·        If you can’t be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.