50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School: Real-World Antidotes to Feel-Good Education

Simply stated, every high school student should read "50 Rules" at the beginning of each school year. Sykes quite masterfully captures in this book essential life lessons that students need in order to succeed in the real world. Along the way, it disabuses students of the notion that they already know everything that they need to know in life, that their attitudes will shine in the real world, and that they are fully prepared for whatever life throws at them. As a bonus, Sykes notes that teenagers should respect, honor, and even thank their parents for raising them.One of my sophomore students is having a little trouble in life right now: typical angst that all of us went through at one point or another. I showed him Rule #51, which helped to put his troubles into perspective.

A pastor of a former church I attended mentioned this book during a sermon one Sunday. You'll die laughing at some of the rules and the filler that follows, if you're not of the politically correct crowd. This should be required reading for all high school juniors/seniors. I think freshman and sophomores wouldn't be mature enough to handle/understand/accept most of the truths revealed in this book.

As a grandparent I often wonder about some of the information that is disseminated in my grandkids classrooms. To me common sense and real life behavior has been mostly replaced with "everyone is a winner" and "political correctness' Neither of these occur in the world at large. This book reflects some of my concerns and I gave it as a present to my son and daughter after reading it myself.I recommend this to any parent or anyone over 16, life is not a bowl of cherries and unless you are born a multimillionaire there are some rude and unhappy moments awaiting the rest of us, as we find that we are not all equal and things are often not fair.Piet

Charles Sykes is a radio talk show host out of Milwaukee. He has written several books.In 50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School: Real-World Antidotes to Feel-Good Education Charles takes up the challenge to counter act the weak education that students get in public schools. The focus is not algebra lessons or history facts, but lessons about life that so few public school graduates seem to have even heard of, let alone learned. As a sample here are the first five rules:----------1: Life is not fair. Get used to it.#2: The real world won't care as much as your school does about your self-esteem. It'll expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.#3: Sorry, you won't make sixty thousand dollars a year right out of high school. And you won't be a vice president or have a company car. You may even have to wear a uniform that doesn't have a designer label.#4: You are not entitled...#5: No matter what your daddy says, you are not a princess...----------This books is written to teenagers. With each rule Charles explains what the rule means and why they need to learn it. The book reads quickly. It is intertaining. There are fun stories, and thoughtful observations. My 13-year-old daughter read and liked it.One of the main themes of the books is encouraging teenagers to think about long term consequences. Don't do something stupid just because at the moment it seems OK, or it seems you can get away with it.Another main theme is encouraging teenagers to treat others with respect. Treat your parents with respect because they have sacrificed so much to raise you. Treat you family with respect because they love you. Treat everyone with respect because it is the right thing to do.Charles Sykes is pretty hard on teachers and especially publich schools. He writes that some of the problem is because teachers get tenure. I was surprised that so few tenured teachers ever get fired. In California over five years out of 220,000 only 62 teachers were dismissed. Over a seven year period in Illionis out of 100,000 tenured teachers only 44 were dismissed. On page 36 Charles writes:"The paradox here is that we have entrusted the preparation of young people who will enter an increasingly competitive world to people who have effectively insulated themselves from the consequences of failure."There were a lot of other good observations and thoughts.This book is good for teenagers, and for parents. I think some times parents are hesitant to establish rules and to enforce them. This book will help remind parents why they need to be parents.

There are really about 35 or so really good "Rules" here. There is a bit of redundancy and a few convenient, but off the mark, excuses employed that do not belong in a no excuses type of book (like excusing some school issues on bad teachers and administrators). It's not that these things don't exist; they always have. It's just that we were always expected to overcome those obstacles...which is kind of what this book was supposed to be all about.

I went to buy this book because of a quote going around on FB- attributed to Bill Gates. Then, I read it wasn't his. I liked it so much, that when I discovered it was part of a book, I went to buy the book to read more. Not disappointed at all.Every adult, youth and person with common sense in this country, needs to read this book.

This is a very easy and quick read that demonstrates that common sense can often be a fine educational tool. Probably the important message here is that we, as a society, have dumbed down our education processes in order to protect our children from being hurt and/or disappointed.

I don't agree with everything said but my other mom friend and I found this book hilarious! Just buy it, even for the hell of it! It's funny but very true as far as harsh life can be.

This book takes a very down to earth attitude toward teaching kids some things they really need to know in addition to scholastic subjects; mainly responsibility, common courtesy and respect, self-accountability, and interacting well with other people instead of focusing only on oneself. These days, students are rewarded and praised for doing no more than showing up, and competion and rewards are seen as bad things that hurt the feelings of the kids who don't win. This author points out that while this may make the kids feel good, it doesn't help them if they expect the whole world to worry about their self-esteem when they are out of school and working. They'll be trying to get along with co-workers and bosses who don't care how they feel, only how well they work; if they fail to show up or perform badly, they'll get fired, not a quiet talk with a caring counselor who asks them what's troubling them. At first it may seem the author doesn't like children, but quickly it becomes apparent that he cares very much and wants them to succeed in the outside world once they are released from the overprotective environment their schools might be providing. A very no-nonsense approach to helping kids become good, responsible people. Hopefully it will also help some parents realize that they aren't doing their children any favors by being permissive and making excuses for bad behavior, when what the kids need is to understand their actions have consequences.

Whatever it is children learn today, sometimes we as parents really overdo it!Of course we want our children to develop self-esteem and love what they're doing, but nevertheless the world is not a party and there are a lot of things that aren't fun and still need to be done.So this book gives valuable advice, in a humourous tune and therefore is fun to read in spite of the serious aubject.

I bought the book and found it very informative. It's a good book to read if you have kids( teenagers).