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  • 2000-10-09 (xsd:date)
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  • Some Rules Kids Won't Learn in School (en)
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  • This list of Rules Kids Won't Learn in School didn't originate with former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. (It's often cited on the Internet as having come from his book Business @ The Speed of Thought, but it didn't.) Why it has frequently been attributed to him is a mystery to us, as it doesn't sound at all like something he would write. Possibly it's because the item that typically ends the Internet-circulated version of the list (Be nice to nerds) struck a chord with someone who views Gates as the ultimate successful nerd of all time. One version which appeared on the Internet in June 2002 asserted this was the text of a commencement speech given by Bill Gates to the graduating class of Mt. Whitney High School in Visalia, California. It wasn't: he didn't give such a speech, and administrators at that school were mystified as to why they were dragged into this apocryphal story. Nor is this list the work of Kurt Vonnegut, another person to whom authorship has been attributed. A line found in those versions (From a college graduation speech by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.) explains why folks want to lay these random words of wisdom on his doorstep: In 1998, the Internet was swept with a narrative that has come to be known as the Vonnegut sunscreen speech. That work of inventive fiction was actually the product of Chicago Tribune writer Mary Schmich, but Internet-circulated versions claimed it was a college graduation speech given by Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut thus became associated in the minds of some people with pithy advice to young adults. This list was the work of Charles J. Sykes, author of the 1996 book Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, Or Add. (Sykes' list was published in numerous newspapers, although it did not appear in his 1996 book. It did, however, form the meat of Sykes' 2007 book, 50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School: Real-World Antidotes to Feel-Good Education.) Many online versions of the list omit the last three rules: Advice columnist Ann Landers printed the first ten items (uncredited) several times, and this list was also used by radio commentator Paul Harvey. The prize for misattribution, however, has to go to the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, which published the list twice in the space of three weeks in mid-2000, the first time crediting it to Duluth state Rep. Brooks Coleman of Duluth, and the second time to Bill Gates. (en)
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