The Kids Are All Wrong...
Honest to God, this is not some attempt to curry favour with The Kids, but have you seen the immense amounts of guff which is being generated about school-age children and who they want to be when they grow up?
It seems to have started with a survey of primary school teachers about which celebrities their pupils seem to be influenced by. The survey was conducted by the Association Of Teachers & Lecturers, and there's even a top 10 of the most influential celebs, which goes something like this...
1: David Beckham
2: Victoria Beckham
3: Frank Lampard
4: Keira Knightley
5: David Tennant
6: Paris Hilton
7: Lewis Hamilton
8: Sugababes
9: Leona Lewis
10: Nadine Coyle
Now, this is a very interesting list. Partly because it seems to have caused a froth-apocalypse from concerned adults, but mostly because 80% of the conclusions people have drawn from it are just a load of old fooey.
The important things to bear in mind about this survey are these:
0: I've not seen the actual report to know what the original question was. This is quite important because we don't know if the top 10 is a list of children's favourite celebrities, or people in public life that they would most like to be. There is a difference, you see.
1: It's a survey of primary school teachers. Which means the celebs in the list are those who make a big impact with the under-11s. When I was 10 I wanted to be Han Solo, and then I got older and things changed. Panic over, Mum and Dad!
2: There's some manipulation of the results, I feel. If you ask primary school kids which celebs they like, are they more likely to suggest David Tennant the actor, or Doctor Who? Is Keira Knightley in there because of her acting skills, or because she's in Pirates Of The Caribbean? Are we crediting children with an adult perspective on celebrity, and then damning them for being fooled by the bright lights?
3: Nobody says that future generations are going to the dogs because little girls sometimes say they just want to marry a rich and famous man. Or because little boys sometimes say they want to work in a cinema forever. Children try personalities and potential futures on all the time. They're supposed to.
4: Granted a lot of children (and adults too) believe you don't need to DO anything to become famous and therefore successful. That's partly why Paris Hilton is on the list - although her appearances in The Simple Life might also have a lot to do with it. And that's a shame, but not something you can only accuse kids of being fooled by, and you can't assume they all think like that. It's all Jade Goody's fault!
5: Nick Gibb, the schools minister for the Conservative Party has said: "It tells you something about our schools when Paris Hilton is a role model but not JK Rowling or Stephen Hawking."
Yes, what it says is that people who are only just starting to read Harry Potter don't venerate novelists, and you would be hard pushed to find ANYONE who thinks that Stephen Hawking is a role model. The man's unique, leave him be!
Comments
Hehe.. I used to want to be a writer when I was in early primary school.. wasn't fussy about the type.. when I was 6 I dictated an entire song to my mommy because I couldn't write properly yet :P Then I performed it for the class. Mother loves that story.. it just makes me realise that I was SUCH an attention hogger when I was young :P
Its sad (if this is a pole about who kids most want to be like) that Paris Hilton is on this list. At least all the others have careers and are role models to kids, where as she just goes shopping, goes to parties and makes money for doing nothing.
Leanne - what's wrong with wanting to be rich and famous for as little effort as possible? Paris may not have a Protestant work ethic but she seems happy enough.
I don't know, otherkat.. I wouldn't want to be her in a million years. And money is nothing really. Once you get over a certain income all it does is let you buy things you don't need.
Well yes, but surely having lots of money doesn't automatically make you an intrinsically bad, unhappy person? Fame on the other hand doesn't seem to treat anyone well, especially if you've acheived that fame for less than morally perfect reasons. As Fraser says in the post. I sincerely doubt any kids are looking to emulate her career in mucky videos. However if they want to grow up minting money out of MTV for a couple of catchphrases a day then I say good luck to them.
[Considering these are sposed to be primary school kids, I honestly doubt that many of them even know of Paris's sordid video history. Or if they do, the parents are a DISGRACE! - Fraser]
Work is of value though.. Even as kids most people take much greater pleasure in something, like a grade or a toy they saved up for, if they worked for it.. I'd argue it's the same with adults a lot of the time.. so if someone never has to work for ANYTHING I don't see how they can feel the same level of satisfaction with their life as someone who does. Not going to say I'm talking about Paris because I'm not sure how much work she does apart from the odd attempt at singing/acting.
You do know her dad cut her out of the Hilton inheritance, right? Something daft about 'bringing the family name into disrepute'... So she is indeed living on money she's earned herself. Her methods of earning said dosh may be morally questionable, but I doubt they've turned her into an unfeeling zombie unable to enjoy her life. That's the cocaine doing that. But anyway, I think it's a little unfair to compare your own personal philosophy about the value/reward of hard work to that of someone who was brought up in a totally different environment.
I specifically said I wasn't going to say I was talking about her.
But I wouldn't agree that it's unfair to say that work creates personal value across all levels of society, plenty of rich families still manage to teach their children the value of work.
And I do believe that parents who just give their children what they want without creating a balance of work are, in a way, bad parents. For example, children should not have maids to tidy their rooms. Small things like that are what helps to encourage a good sense of personal responsibility.
And AGAIN, I had moved on from talking about Paris to talking about work in general.