Breaking News....Kids want to be famous when they are older!!!....... Come on, I wanted to be in the Thunderbirds when I was younger, surely that's a bigger story than this? Thunderbirds beat WAGs any day

James, Surrey, UK

Our Country, and our Culture, has been deliberately dismantled by three decades of politicians with hidden agendas, its time for the People to get serious with them and start voting them out, no more 'safe' seats !

Clive Burghard, LANCING, ENGLAND

Girls wanting to be WAGS? Was it for this that the Suffragettes chained themselves to railings, and for this that Simone de Beauvoir dedicated her life??

JF, Canterbury, UK

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams....

Kahlil Gibran, Bsharri, Lebanon

Most kids are doing what they always did, which is some will study and some wont. northing has really changed in the last 40 years or so. When I was a kid I wanted to be a rock star, so I joined a band, we played, did a few gigs and then grew up and went our separate ways. I studied, got o levels, a levels and a degree and became a wage slave like everyone else. The same will happen with todays lot.

Neil Murphy, cromer,

"What a startling revelation."

The problem is not that they dream about it, but that they think it's their right. They're still dreaming about it when they're 16, by which time they should have grown out of such fantasies.

starling, stockport,

Well since the rest of my generation are going to be day dremaing for the rest of their lives I don't think I'll find it too hard to take over the world.

Meera, Reading, UK

Emma from Southampton, I really don't think these pre-teen children are considering the rate of immigration into the country when telling their teachers what they want to be whenthey grow up, lol!
Some people really will try and blame immigration for everything.

Lauren, Edinburgh, UK

So young kids dream of being pop stars, footballers and millionaire heiresses (the modern cultural equivalent of the 'princess' fantasy).

What a startling revelation.

Giles, London,

I have a good idea, let's have lots of award shows like the oscars, sports 'personality' of the year and the brits for a bunch of people that are already idolised, just in case they start to think that they're not well enough paid and get no 'job' satisfaction.
Seriously though do they not get enough attention?

Richard, Cambridge,

Where are the parents? Where are the heroes in the near environment of these children? Who has the guts to restrict the time children spend on TV and computering? Who offers them a solid foundation and roots them in a living tradition that points them to the values of a lifestyle that centres around the Ten Commandments?

Mrs Irene Fadaee Outan, mother and teacher, Heerlen, The Netherlands,

In aggregate, the ambitions of children should be an accurate reflection of the underlying values of the society in which they have grown up. When I was a child, most young boys aspired to social respect as firemen, policemen, doctors or other "normal" jobs. That children now admire overpaid celebrity status says less about the children than about the adults and social environment around them. In other words, don't blame the kids for the outcome of decades of very bad decisions and foolish priorities taken by adults.

Martin Baldwin-Edwards, Athens, Greece

Of course there are many pupils who see academic success as unnecessary to obtain fame and fortune, but there are also many pupils who are unlikely to achieve academic success in the first place who hope for fame and fortune.

Yesterday this newspaper contained an article about £200 million being made availabe to over 600 poorly performing schools. For many children at these schools what hope is there of academic success?

Des, Edinburgh,

Am i mistaken, or wasn't there a report out not that long ago saying that WAGS should be looked up to because the majority of them have very ggod school grades and degrees?

Anna, cheltenham, Gloucestershire

Very good Ben. Just because you work in a call centre, doesn't mean your childhood was spent daydreaming about angry callers and a fancy headset.

Most childhood aspirations are healthy and normal. It's the majority of society being fascinated by celebrities who are simply famous for being famous, which is then stoked by the media that is not healthy.

By all means aspire to be famous for doing something; actor, scientist, adventurer, writer, comic, even model. But famous because you're erm famous. No.

Karl (aspiring Lotto winner and Big Brother contestant)

Karl, UK, UK

"Many said their pupils sought to be famous with no discernible talent."
But why should we wonder? They are obviously the product of the ' something for nothing' culture, promoted by succesive governments since the sixties, with the heartfelt encouragement from most teaching unions.

Marin, London,

One of the flaws made evident within this arguement is the fact that adults (teachers, union representatives etc) seem to be inflicting their values onto todays children. However as students ourselves we do not condone Paris Hilton being a role model for future generations. From the age of 9 we are catagorised into the things that we are and are not good at: for those of us who are not good at the conventional subjects, are there really provisions to support them? In reference to Paris Hilton:'The Role Model of the 21st Century' children need to realise what being an heiress means. It is something that you are born into and does not neccessarily mean that you have what it takes to be successful. Children should learn that their natural talent is what if anything makes you famous. Instead of teaching kids that fame equals success and recognition throughout the world we should be teaching them that humility and compassion are the neccessary characterisitcs to get through life.

Julia Goolia, Leighton Buzzard, England

What else is there to aspire to? You are right Ben, we are left with little option but to aim for the alien world that is 'fame'. Kids are more obsessed with the actual grading of their work rather than how much they believed they have actually learnt. Let them be popstars for goodness sake..

Leave Britney Alone!

x

Lukey, Walsall, England

I weep for the future!

Ben, if you actually look around, there are other jobs to be had other than just call centres. What exactly did you think: "Oh no, I haven't made my fortune pratting about on some god-awful 'reality' TV programme so my life is over and the only job left is working in a call centre" - was that it?!

Seriously, other kinds of jobs are available and if you want them, YOU need to find them - they're not going to come looking for you! There is more to life than call centres and fame and fortune, and it's certainly not a case of you have the choice to do one or the other!

It's fine to have aspirations to be rich and famous, a lot of people want that, but you need a contingency plan. And if that means working hard at school, then so be it. Kids need to understand that their fortune is not going to be handed to them on a plate. The media needs to become more responsible for this trash tv as it is the media who have the highest influence on our children these days.

Dan, Kent, UK

This has always been the case. During my teen years I wanted to be a guitarist in a death metal band. One day that dream was shattered and I lost faith in everything. I believed in nothing else. So I then went to law school.

Chris, London, England

I say let them. Let them go and be failures, that way, they'll have a valuable lesson to tell their children about the dangers of being a colossal moron.

Joshua Yau, Frodsham, Cheshire

Didn't we all want to be famous - I was going to be a pop star (can't sing) and a model (too small) and I was going to marry a rich famous pop star (the equivalent of being a WAG).

Isn't it nice for our kids to have dreams while they are still young enough to believe dreams can come true!

April, Chester, Cheshire

Doesn't every kid want to be a popstar at some point?
I know I did, and I've grown up to be a teacher of all things!
I think there are a lot of reasons that education is no longer valued in the way it was, most of them cutural, but it is a bit flippant to attribute it to the Beckhams and Big Brother.

Jo, Sussex, UK

Not all of us work in call centres! I enjoy my job and earn very good money doing so (I'm not a celebrity). The media needs to stop obsessing so much about over-night 'celebrity-ism' there's more to life than that rubbish.

James Clarke, Brighton,

So kids want to grow up to be famous footballers or pop stars. Is that really news to anyone?

That this should come as a revelation to teachers says more about the sorry state of the educational system in this country than the fact that the kids, on this evidence, are the same hopeless dreamers they ever were.

xwoof, Margate,

I have a good degree from a good university in engineering and all it has enabled me to do is work hard for mediocre remuneration.
Matthew

Matthew, Oxford,

I thought pupils had parents who could set them straight .. But maybe they're just as daft ...

n monrad, amsterdam,

I fail to see the obsession with the Beckhams!! Children should be informed of more options than being Rich or Poor and then maybe we would hear of some real aspirations!

Grow up

Amy, Bourne, England, United Kingdom

Rather than complain about the poor role models supplied by TV, perhaps the teaching profession should be engaging with the media to suggest better role model ideas. I recall well the soap opera Brookside had a character who studied for her accountancy exams and let the life of a young woman with life choices. The inherently moral messages underlying many soap story lines would be an excellent way of exploring life choices.

Yvonne, Newcastle,

Girls have always wanted to marry millionaires and they always will. Millionaires, on the other hand, don't usually put academic achievement at the top of the list when choosing a partner.

The girls are being more realistic than they're getting credit for.

Albert Lampwick, UK,

What a shock. Since the influx of immigrants to this country, British workers have been denounced as lazy with no work ethic (in reality we can't afford to work for peanuts). No wonder kids can't be bothered with proper jobs when they are condemned before they even start.

Emma, Southampton,

There's nothing wrong with having David Beckham as a role model. His dedication and work ethic are exemplary. Stories of him staying behind for hours after training working on his game are now legendary.

David, London,

What...ever

Jade, London,

We have nothing else to aim for in this country.

It's either that or a call centre. Given the alternative I think these kids ambitions are pretty healthy and normal.

Signed Ben, from a grim call centre in the north west.

Ben Rosenthal, Manchester, Lancashire