Why is everything i was told as a kid a total crock of shit?

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Why do adults lie to kids about what life is really like? We are taught bullshit like "just be yourself, people will like you for who you are" well thats a bunch of crap because if that was true then nobody would get bullied. Another one I find funny is "if you work hard and try your best you will succeed" well thats a load of horseshit because they are far more people who tried their hardest and fell flat on their ass then became successes, I mean what is the ratio for every Bill Gates how many others totally and completely failed?

Whats this crap about college being important? I have a Master's degree and I havent used one damn thing I learned and passed tests on to make my life better OR to get a good job.

Is it normal to think nice guys (and nice people in general) really do finish last?

Is It Normal?
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  • shade_ilmaendu
    11 years ago | pl

    It's done with the best of intentions. Our parents were raised being told that college was such an important thing, that's why so many of us were pushed into higher education. It *can* be useful, but it really depends on what you're trying to do.

    You will get bullied if you are true to yourself, that's something parents should prepare their children for. But still, I think it's good to encourage that because you'll be happier in the long run if you didn't compromise, and once you're older you will be more respected for being yourself. I'm only 22 and already finding this to be true.

    The last part though... even if everyone worked their hardest, someone's still gotta flip the burgers. That's not going to change.

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  • Francophile22
    11 years ago | pl

    The worst of the lot is the college degree. To me it proves someone was a sheeple, they did as told, i.e. a follower. WHY IN HELL would you want a leader at a company be a follower??

    A far more highly correlated indication that a person will make a good employee (rather than having a college degree) is...are you ready? ...IQ. But this would make paupers out of useless school administrators who are basically glorified leeches.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      11 years ago | pl

      Eh, but how would we go about doing that? Some massive government initiative to IQ test people when they are children and the high scorers go here and the low scorers go to trade/industrial schools?

      Nah, wouldnt work.

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  • Avant-Garde
    11 years ago | pl

    I suppose they're trying to protect their kids from reality or that they don't fully "understand" reality themselves. My parents sheltered me and filled me with "ideals" that left my understanding of the world askew. It took me forever to realise that what I was being taught was "wrong". A adults view should not always be "law". Sometimes, Kids need to learn the truth about things for themselves. I suppose this is one of the flaws our world has to offer.

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  • Dizzee
    11 years ago | pl

    I tried so hard
    And got so far
    But in the end
    It doesn’t even matter...

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  • AlphabetCity
    11 years ago | pl

    We live, we die, so nothing we do matters anyway. There's no point in trying to be anything. Everything you do will be forgotten, a pie in the sky, our existence as a whole is rather humorous, why give such a grand thing as life if it never matters?

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  • NeuroNeptunian
    11 years ago | pl

    I disagree, Bill Gates worked pretty hard. They don't want to tell you that success also requires talent and luck. There's no reason why you shouldn't work hard anyway. If your fear is failure and everyone felt that way then we would be pretty fucked as a society.

    Idealism isn't necessarily shit. They are good values, it just so happens that not everyone has good values. If everyone listened to that "shit" then the world would be a far better place.

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    • Francophile22
      11 years ago | pl

      NO, you need to read Outliers (by the same author who wrote The Tipping Point). In it the author proves that the generation (the specific 3-5 year age group) Gates was born in, his family's endowment to a local university that happened to have one of the first computer science classes and available mainframes, etc. made it a sure thing Gates would succeed, whereas someone born 5 years later could not have succeeded the same way as the thunder was gone.

      The author then described Carnegie, Rockefeller etc. and showed how their exact generation (of low population) was virtually set-up to have them succeed. Luck played no part. The author then describes ad agencies, takeover companies run by Jews born in a a specific year range and how these previously-shunned Jews became the experts in that field, etc., artistic talent among successful musicians and minimum critical hours of practicing to get there; the month in which a baseball player is born having the decisive effect with almost no players born in the later months of a school year so their muscles wouldn't be as mature during team playing as those born earlier in the year (same for racehorses, those born earlier in the year are older and run better than those born on December 31st which become 1 year old on January 1st.) And finally the author explains why Chinese are natural at math because their numbering system lets them add in their head without the irritating features of "one ten, eleven one hundred"type systems, or worse: the 4-20 system in France (that means 80 btw).

      Go read it I dare you.

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  • myboyfriendsbitch
    11 years ago | pl

    I hate when my grandmother-in-law tells my daughter she's eating chicken when she's actually eating PORK! How cruel is that?

    I don't think those are bad things to tell children, but I do think they should be explained more or worded differently. For example, I want to encourage my child to be herself but I'd also like to let her know people don't always accept others for who they are. And I believe hard work is rewarding whether you succeed or not; at least you can say you tried everything you could and hence have rights to complain.

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  • welkinson
    11 years ago | pl

    Well usually SOME ONE likes someone for being themselves. The world would be so boring if no one was themselves. And college does help you to get better higher paying jobs and you need to work hard to get into college.

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  • GoraIntoDesiGals
    11 years ago | pl

    Better to not have kids at all than have them then tell them that bullying is part of life.

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  • howaminotmyself
    11 years ago | pl

    I don't like lying to anyone, not even kids. But I don't think encouraging them to do their best and to be themselves is a bad thing.

    The world is hard, but a 5 year old has no way to comprehend the reality of a 50 year old. Parents do their best to explain, but they may not understand it either.

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