Moral Code for School Children

From Collier’s, The National Weekly © 1925

If I Want To Be a Happy, Useful Citizen I Must Have:

Courage and Hope
I must be brave—This means I must be brave enough and strong enough to control what I think, and what I say and what I do, and I must always be hopeful because hope is power for improvement.

Wisdom
I must act wisely—In school, at home, playing, working, reading or talking, I must learn how to choose the good, and how to avoid the bad.

Industry and Good Habits
I must make my character strong—My character is what I am, if not in the eyes of others, then in the eyes of my own conscience. Good thoughts in my mind will keep out bad thoughts. When I am busy doing good I shall have no time to do evil. I can build my character by training myself in good habits.

Knowledge and Usefulness
I must make my mind strong—The better I know myself, my fellows and the world about me, the happier and more useful I shall be. I must always welcome useful knowledge in school, at home, everywhere.

Truth and Honesty
I must be truthful and honest—I must know what is true in order to do what is right. I must tell the truth without fear. I must be honest in all my dealings and in all my thoughts. Unless I am honest I cannot have self-respect.

Healthfulness and Cleanliness
I must make my body strong—My eyes, my teeth, my heart, my whole body must be healthful so that my mind can work properly. I must keep physically and morally clean.

Helpfulness and Unselfishness
I must use my strength to help others who need help—If I am strong I can help others, I can be kind, I can forgive those who hurt me and I can help and protect the weak, the suffering, the young and the old, and dumb animals.

Charity
I must love—I must love God, who created not only this earth but also all men of all races, nations and creeds, who are my brothers. I must love my parents, my home, my neighbors, my country and be loyal to all these.

Humility and Reverence
I must know that there are always more things to learn—What I may know is small compared to what can be known. I must respect all who have more wisdom than I, and have reverence for all that is good. And I must know how and whom to obey.

Faith and Responsibility
I must do all these things because I am accountable to God and humanity for how I live and how I can help my fellows, and for the extent to which my fellows may trust and depend on me.

Straight Talk from Bill Gates

Found this gem online. Not sure if Bill Gates actually said all this, but whoever did -- they were right.

Some things Bill Gates thinks kids (and adults) should know.

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 : 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 till you get a boss.

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 whine 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 thought you were . 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 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: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Lost in the Translation

Kids say the darndest things. Here are just a few things that got lost in the translation:

ear loaf -- ear lobe

glossias -- gracias

super girl to arrest you -- super girl to the rescue

Franklepea's Glossary of Terms (updated)

magni-finding glass (n.): magnifying glass
remembries (n.): memories
crouton grabbers (n.): tongs
scratch-backer (n.): back scratcher
buckin' otters (n.): binoculars
armpit sugar (n.): deoderant
mo-tro (n.): remote control
beezow (interj.): used to express a futuristic shooting sound as heard in some video games

Now We Know

I had often wondered what was going on in Heimer's head. Now, after losing her binkies in a battle royale with Daddy, the plug that impeded the flow of words is gone. And so is any hope I had that her tongue would be easier to tame than Franklepea's (or mine, for that matter).

Heimer (hitting Franklepea): You go 'way!

Mommy: Kate, no hitting! You can NOT hurt your brother.

Heimer: No, mommy! You bad girl!

Mommy: *gasp* (deer in headlights)

Education! What Education?!

C.S. Lewis said it best...

"What I want to fix your attention on is the vast overall movement towards the discrediting, and finally the elimination, of every kind of human excellence -- moral, cultural, social or intellectual. And is it not pretty to notice how 'democracy' (in the incantatory sense) is now doing for us the work that was once done by the most ancient dictatorships, and by the same methods? The basic proposal of the new education is to be that dunces and idlers must not be made to feel inferior to intelligent and industrious pupils. That would be 'undemocratic.' Children who are fit to proceed may be artificially kept back, because the others would get a trauma by being left behind. The bright pupil thus remains democratically fettered to his own age group throughout his school career, and a boy who would be capable of tackling Aeschylus or Dante sits listening to his coeval's [of the same age] attempts to spell out A CAT SAT ON A MAT. We may reasonably hope for the virtual abolition of education when 'I'm as good as you' has fully had its way. All incentives to learn and all penalties for not learning will vanish. The few who might want to learn will be prevented; who are they to overtop their fellows? And anyway, the teachers -- or should I say nurses? -- will be far too busy reassuring the dunces and patting them on the back to waste any time on real teaching. We shall no longer have to plan and toil to spread imperturbable conceit and incurable ignorance among men."

C. S. Lewis

For Lack of a Better Word

Recent Quotables...

Franklepea: (watching TV) Goofy the Great!
Mommy: Who is Goofy the Great?
Franklepea: That's what they call Goofy when he's "magicky" -- you know, a "magic-tricker".
________________________________

(thunder claps)
Mommy: Ooh, did you hear that?
Franklepea: Was that thunder, or is someone firing cracker-nuts?
________________________________

Franklepea (watching a commercial): Ooh, I want to see that movie.
Mommy: What movie is that?
Franklepea: The Little Wormaid.

Tez's Glossary of Terms

goggly-goggly (interj.): usually said in repetition as an exclamation signifying happiness or excitedness; "Goggly-goggly-ga!"

babuwhabu (interj.): an exclamation signifying happiness or excitedness; often said upon entering a room post-naptime so as to announce one's presence to others

Heimer's Glossary of Terms

golly-ga (interj.): an exclamation derived from the interjection 'goggly-goggly' as an expression of happiness or excitedness; often used in repetition. "Golly-golly-ga! Golly-golly-ga!"

voof (n.): juice

Franklepea's Glossary of Terms

crouton grabbers (n.): tongs

scratch-backer (n.): back scratcher

buckin' otters (n.): binoculars

armpit sugar (n.): deoderant

mo-tro (n.): remote control

beezow (interj.): used to express a futuristic shooting sound as heard in some video games