Celebrity obsession harming students

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.