TEN RULES FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS!

1) Life is not fair. Get used to it. We are getting a bit tired of hearing you say "It's not fair!" Did you know that the average teenager uses that phrase about 86 times a day?

2) The real world won't care as much about your precious self-esteem as your school does. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself. This may come as a shock to you when you get out there.

3) We're sorry to have to tell you this, but you won't make $40,000 a year right out of high school, and you won't be a vice president and you probably won't have a car phone. You may even get to wear a uniform that doesn't have a designer label.

4) If you think that your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss.

5) Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it "opportunity."

6) It is not your parent's fault if you mess up. You're responsible. This is the flip side of "It's my life" and "You're not my boss." So don't whine about your mistakes - learn from them.

7) Before you were born your parents were not boring. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning your clothes, and listening to you. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

8) Life after high school is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off. You don't even get a spring break. You may not have to work Christmas day. You are expected to show up at work every day for at least eight years, and you don't get to start your life over every ten weeks. Also understand that television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to work.

9) Smoking does not make you look cool and mature. Watch an 11 year-old with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. This is exactly how you look to anyone over the age of 20.

10) Your high school may be "outcome based," but life isn't. In some schools you are given as many times as you want to get the answer right. Standards are set low enough so everyone can meet them. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything you will encounter in real life ---- as you will soon find out.

- Good luck. You are going to need it. By the way, the harder you work, the luckier you get.

Here's an 11^th rule - supplied by Bill Gates of Microsoft:

11) "Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one."