Posted March 14, 200817 yr Celebrity obsession harming British students Fri Mar 14, 2008 2:45am GMT by Mike Collett-White LONDON (Reuters) - An unhealthy obsession with celebrity culture is damaging the academic success of British students, a survey of teachers found on Friday, with celebrity couple the Beckhams the favourite inspiration. Many students are ignoring career aspirations to pursue the chance of fame instead, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) survey found. Almost two-thirds of teachers said sports stars were the type of celebrity most pupils wanted to emulate while more than half of students wanted to be pop stars. The celebrities students aspired to be most like, the survey said, were Los Angeles-based David and Victoria Beckham, arguably Britain's most famous couple. Soccer player "Becks" topped the poll, with more than half the teachers saying their students modelled themselves on the 32 year-old. In second place, with almost a third of the poll's vote, was his 33 year-old wife and pop star "Posh". In an era of reality television "stars" and a media fixation with celebrities, a majority of teachers said celebrity culture negatively impacted the aspirations of their pupils. Many bemoaned students who "wanted to be famous for being famous". Almost half of the 300 teachers polled said pupils tried to look like and/or behave like celebrities they most admired, fuelling fears that girls particularly dressed in "unsuitable", or provocative styles. "We are not surprised about infiltration of celebrity culture in schools -- it reflects the current media obsession with celebrity and the effect of celebrity culture on society as a whole," ATL general secretary Mary Bousted said in a statement. "Celebrities can have a positive effect on pupils. They can raise pupils' aspirations and ambitions for the future. "However ... celebrity culture can perpetuate the notion that celebrity status is the greatest achievement and reinforces the belief that other career options are not valuable." Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard ranked third on the favourites list with 26 percent, actress Keira Knightley fourth (25 percent) and "Doctor Who" star David Tennant fifth (23 percent). Other celebrities on the list included U.S. heiress and socialite Paris Hilton (sixth) and Leona Lewis, a winner of Britain's "The X Factor" television talent show (ninth). One primary school teacher from Scunthorpe, in the country's northeast, Elizabeth Farrar, said: "Too many of the pupils believe that academic success is unnecessary, because they will be able to access fame and fortune quite easily through a reality TV show." Do you think this is a savage indictment on today's teenagers or a poor excuse for teachers to blame celebrity culture for their own shortcomings?
March 14, 200817 yr This "survey" and accompanying news release is representative of the very problem! Instead of giving any empirical evidence or scientific proof, it lists a bunch of celebrities whom students model. Who cares WHO they are and did we really need a LIST of names determined by a clearly informal survey of teachers? The article may inspire true debate about celebrity culture here -- we're all pretty smart people -- but the average person reading that will more likely respond "Paris before Leona?? And where is Rihanna on that list???" Edited March 14, 200817 yr by Consie
March 14, 200817 yr Surely it's harming EVERYONE who dream of fame and fortune, whether they're a student, a receptionist sat at their desk twiddling their fingers waiting for a break or someone in an established career who dreams of something else. Unless you're in a job you love, I don't think you can do it 100%.
March 16, 200817 yr who wants fame and fortune?.... sod that! im happy being joe bloggs, a normal, average guy... what use is fortune anyway?... all you need is enough money to live, is your toilet experience really any better just because you $h!t in a marble bowl instead of a normal porcelaine one?.. i think opulence and wealth is obscene.
March 16, 200817 yr .......and i think celebrity obsession is detrimental to the whole of society... they are just PEOPLE you know, they aint 'gods' but are mortal like you and me! they fart, $h!t, burp, they arnt a seperate speciese... i think people who are obsessed with celebrities are very very sad, pathetic individuals with no brain and no life of their own.
March 16, 200817 yr Whilst I tend to agree with some of this article it is no new issue. You just have to look at the god like status awarded film stars during the 20s / 30s / 40s in Hollywood. Kids have always wanted to be footballers / train drivers / pop stars. Although it has to be said when you keep seeing how little talent / brains are required to become a "celebrity" these days does make me wonder why I work so hard!
March 16, 200817 yr Thats what I like about Simon Cowell, he gives these idiots a reality check when they think they will make millions through X Factor even though they sound worse than nails scraping down a blackboard
March 16, 200817 yr Thats what I like about Simon Cowell, he gives these idiots a reality check when they think they will make millions through X Factor even though they sound worse than nails scraping down a blackboard Yeah but at the same time he's force-feeding the public "popstars" who just aren't good enough and because he says they're good and are on his TV show they buy it! Leona Lewis got NOWHERE without X Factor because she's just not good enough yet because she was on a TV show you get people bowing down to her like she IS as good as Mariah Carey like she wishes she was (don't like her but she does have some talent) God knows how Leon Jackson won it too! But yeah I get your point but I'm just saying at the same time it's part of the problem as well as a kind of solution like you suggest. But celebrities can be good sometimes as people to aspire to be like, David Beckham has always been a hero of mine not just because he played for my favourite football team but because he always proves people wrong! Look how he bounced back from World Cup 98 and went on to be England Captain! And how he got back into the England set-up, that taught me that if you have determination then if it's within your reach you can do what you want to do!
March 16, 200817 yr Yeah but at the same time he's force-feeding the public "popstars" who just aren't good enough and because he says they're good and are on his TV show they buy it! Leona Lewis got NOWHERE without X Factor because she's just not good enough yet because she was on a TV show you get people bowing down to her like she IS as good as Mariah Carey like she wishes she was (don't like her but she does have some talent) God knows how Leon Jackson won it too! But yeah I get your point but I'm just saying at the same time it's part of the problem as well as a kind of solution like you suggest. But celebrities can be good sometimes as people to aspire to be like, David Beckham has always been a hero of mine not just because he played for my favourite football team but because he always proves people wrong! Look how he bounced back from World Cup 98 and went on to be England Captain! And how he got back into the England set-up, that taught me that if you have determination then if it's within your reach you can do what you want to do! Yeah Beckham is a great role model Has a clean living lifestyle, doesn't drink much, keeps himself fit, doesn't get caught drink driving, fighting, getting thrown out of nightclubs totally incapable etc, he is a family man and he also puts a lot back into the community with his soccer schools and so on so I have a lot of respect for the guy Beckham is worth 1 million John Terry's, Rio Ferdinand's, Joey Barton's, Gazza's, Djibril Cisse's etc
March 18, 200817 yr Has a clean living lifestyle, doesn't drink much, keeps himself fit, doesn't get caught drink driving, fighting, getting thrown out of nightclubs totally incapable Nah, he just goes around shagging other women (forgotten the whole Rebecca Loos affair have we..?).... :lol: :lol: :P I reckon now we are living in a totally anti-intellectual age which is typified by the proliferation of utter thickies like Jade Goody, Jodie Marsh, et al becoming somehow "famous" for really doing bugger all and not having a discernible 'talent' for really doing anything.... You cant really compare it to the Hollywood stars of the 30s, 40s and 50s, they all had a certain glamour or presence about them which was really unattainable, and the likes of Bogart, Cagney, Bacall, Monroe, etc, actually did have talent.. Pretty considerable talent it was too...
March 18, 200817 yr Indeed - celebrity culture has always been there. When I was a kid I wanted to be Kenny Dalglish, even though I was $h!t at football. Education and fame do not have to be mutually exclusive either, but they are becoming more so. I blame reality television, kiss and tell stories and lazy paparazzi for the creation of such monsters as Jade Goody, Rebecca Loos, Paris Hilton and, presumably now, Heather Mills - all of whom are seen as 'inspiration' by some of the nation's dregs. The proof that you can make a ton of cash through behaving like an oboxious f***er and / or get away with murder (well, DWI) because of your 'status' is what makes these people 'admirable' in the eyes of some.
March 18, 200817 yr You cant really compare it to the Hollywood stars of the 30s, 40s and 50s, they all had a certain glamour or presence about them which was really unattainable, and the likes of Bogart, Cagney, Bacall, Monroe, etc, actually did have talent.. Pretty considerable talent it was too... nah.... bogey was pretty good but he was a one trick pony. much though i like bogey and cagney, even bacall... their 'talent' was more to do with good scripts then their acting ability.
March 22, 200817 yr Nah, he just goes around shagging other women (forgotten the whole Rebecca Loos affair have we..?).... :lol: :lol: :P I reckon now we are living in a totally anti-intellectual age which is typified by the proliferation of utter thickies like Jade Goody, Jodie Marsh, et al becoming somehow "famous" for really doing bugger all and not having a discernible 'talent' for really doing anything.... You cant really compare it to the Hollywood stars of the 30s, 40s and 50s, they all had a certain glamour or presence about them which was really unattainable, and the likes of Bogart, Cagney, Bacall, Monroe, etc, actually did have talent.. Pretty considerable talent it was too... I know someone who aspires to be like Jodie Marsh.. :lol: But yeah like everyone has said, Celeb-Obsession has been around for yonks, thousands of years even. People have wanted to be like Jesus back then, and now it's all about wanting to be a Jordan or a Pussycat Doll, (well for some people anyway). :lol:
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