Youth - Education, Talent and Media Influences - Part 1

Recently I attended a debate in the House of Lords, the topics were education vs talent: is education helping to develop talent, media influences: does the media only highlight negatives about youth and celebrity vs talent: is the wrong celebrity being celebrated, in fact does being a celebrity mean you have talent?

This was the third time in history that the chamber had been open to the public, and did young people take the opportunity with both hands!



My focus in this article is the topics of the debate, not the debate itself.

Education vs Talent

With the growing uncertainty with the standard of education in this country, there has been a growing divide on the subject of what the educational system in the UK was designed to achieve.

Some believe that it should be designed to develop talent in this country, others believe it is a way of ensuring young people get jobs in future.

Many say the educational system is failing young people, is the curriculum so one dimensional that it creates dissatisfaction in young people and society?


The educational system was not designed to develop talent, the educational system was designed to ensure that in years to come we have able minded bodies that are capable of keeping society going in years to come, ergo, the educational system in this country can be compared to a mass production line, which creates an object for one purpose. The educational system, if you allow yourself to be bound by it, is another means of controlling the population, it can be compared even to the movie Matrix, the people were only products of the system and in order to counter that, Neo/Mr. Anderson needed to step out of the norm and do something different. THAT is where talent comes in.

This is where we come to a crossroads, like Morpheus, I will give you, the reader, a choice. Take the BLUE pill and you can click the 'x' in the corner of the screen and go about your every day business, forget you ever saw this or you can take the RED pill and I will do my best to take you on a journey designed show you what is wrong with the system and society, then, you can make your own judgements.

Farewell to those we left behind, let's move on......

To say that the educational system does not develop talent is not entirely accurate, this is so because without the educational system we would not have politicians, businessmen (as shady as they may be), doctors, lawyers and accountants. So what are we saying when we say talent is not developed, what type of talent are we referring to?

When young people talk of talent they are referring to, most of the time, footballing, singing and modelling talent. The kinds of talents that bring, on the face of it, alot of money for little effort. When adults talk about talent, they are referring to the lack of specialists in the many fields of endeavour around the country, this has caused a divide between young and old.

It is quite simple to understand where the problem lies really, I mean everywhere you look young people are trying to make a quick buck, so countless schemes are created where young people can make a £50 here and there, making it look like the government are doing something to counter the problems, but no long term contributions are made.

The education system is a shambles alright, but the problem is not limited to education, society itself is a shambles, I mean look at the current situation, we have politicians who don't know how to correctly claim expenses, bankers who add zero's to their annual turnover to increase their bonuses and a prime-minister who's own party members are turning against him, and that is just the top end of society!

At the bottom-end of society, the main problem we have is the lack of values, by this I mean lack of respect, lack of family and lack of the ever important sense of community. Now you may sit back in your chair and say "hmph, what do we need community for?" but there is a saying, 'it takes a village to raise a child', there are certain communities where this saying takes full effect and it shows in the success rate their offspring have in their careers i.e the asian community.

But that is for another article, what is wrong with the educational system as we know it?

The current system is too rigid, teachers are bound by strict and sometimes comical guidelines, exams are either too easy or too hard, unfortunately the exams regulators cannot make up their minds which, classes are too formal.

When I asked my friend Chantelle the same question, she mentioned a list of things but most importantly she stated that, "exams don't tell you anything about the child or their learning, exams merely tell the examiners how good a child's memory is and how well they work under pressure."

I highlight this point because it compliments my belief that the system does not foster the development of talent, but insteads breeds a new generation of programmed workers, what could a child's memory and ability to work under pressure at the age of 15/16 tell you about the child other than how ready that child is to be put through the rigours of a working life.

There is no care in the way the classes are taught, teachers no longer attempt to incite curiosity, young people are no longer eager to learn the whole demographic of teaching has changed.

A teacher has a class to the ratio of 1 to 30 students, if we were to apply this formula of addressing every students needs, given a class is roughly 40 minutes, a teacher would have approximately 1minute and 10 seconds per student. In that kind of time a teacher would just about pronounce my name right. So we have effectively proven that the system does not develop talent, but produces the workers we see every morning rushing to get to work and in the evening rushing to get home.

In the current economic times it is becoming apparent that more and more businesses are targeting exceptionally talented people to recruit, but if the system does not provide that for the current generation, then these businesses are more willing to recruit from abroad. The problem in this country is one of political correctness and media influence. The 'Every Child Matters' scheme that is running through the country has created a sense of apprehension on the part of teachers and guidelines have become so rigid, that something as menial as sneezing around a child needs to be logged in writing, the system is now over-protecting young people and this prevents them from experiencing life in education freely. Beyond that is the problem of lack of opportunities, for both excelling students and failing students.

Picture this, at 16 you get 'straight A' GCSE's,you apply for college, at 18 you get 'straight A' A-levels, you enter university, you leave university with a degree, time to celebrate and get a job in animation for example, wrong, you now have to think about how your clear the £25000 loan. When thoughts of clearing a debt come into one's head one does not think about what one's preferred job is, one thinks 'any job will do.' In the current economic crisis, less and less businesses are willing to recruit young graduates as they have inadequate experience, so why study if the curriculum does not adequately prepare the students for the rigours of labour. But, thinking like this is the exact reason why talent is not being developed, we put the wrong emphasis on what talent is and how it is developed, let us explore this further.

Talent, if we go by the talented individuals who have and are succeeding through their talent, is a natural ability, a knack, a flair in a particular field, but the talent itself is not enough to propel you to the heights, by 'heights' I don't mean fame, it is possible to be successful, wealthy and not famous. I believe everyone has a purpose for being on this earth but only 5% of us actually discover and develop our talent. Take for example David Beckham, he is one of the most celebrated footballers on earth, this is because he spent hours fine-tuning his gift, this is what it takes to develop talent.

Most of the people that have reached the heights with their talent did not rely on their education to get them where they are, take for example Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple) and Richard Branson (Virgin founder), these are successful men who took what the system had given them and shaped their talent around the knowledge they had recieved, now we have the iPhone and Virgin Airlines, the point I am making is that in order to really develop talent one has to 'think outside of the box', this is something you cannot learn on the curriculum, this is something that develops as a result of putting your mind to exploring the talent that you have, when you are trying to exploit your talent to your advantage you begin to open your mind to ideas that you would not have considered in a dead end job.

It will be difficult to find someone or an organisation who are willing to help develop talent, this is because it is not in their best interests to do so,we live in a society where profit, credit and gains are the way to a man's heart, 'what do I get out of helping you develop your talent?'

So in essence, the development of talent is more our personal responsibility than it is the government's, the talent was not endowed on them, it is your talent, your power, 'as the saying goes with great power comes great responsibility.' The measure of your development is down to your determination to be different from the norm. Many people have talents, but they do the same thing as everyone else, they fail to break from the herd. To soildify this point, take for example the annual 'Pamplona Bull Run', when the bulls run together they can be controlled by the matador and are not as dangerous as they CAN be, but the minute a bull moves away from the herd THAT bull becomes dangerous, it taps into its natural ability to be powerful and remove all in its path, this is how talent is refined.

In the film 'Matrix', Agent Smith always called Neo 'Mr Anderson', this represents the branding culture of society that put us in categories and keeps us in a mould, it is only when Neo accepts that he is different from society that he pulls on the full power of his potential. This is what the movie 'Matrix' was all about, breaking the mould, tapping into and fulfilling your full potential. You only lose the power to be who you are when you give your power away.

Instead of putting the blame on everyone else, perhaps we should consider taking FULL responsibility for our talents and work on breaking the mould that society puts us in and prove that we are powerful.

Michael Jackson: Legend, Man, Revolutionary

On June 25th Michael Joseph Jackson died, in his death a barrage of controversy, rumours and uncertainty synonymous with an air-strike on an Al-Qaeda compound, has surfaced.

As an individual who grew up listening to MJ, spending hours on end practicing his dance routines and who's first horror movie was 'Thriller', to hear that he is gone does not invoke sadness but rather invokes a sense of satisfaction and happiness that I lived in the era of a legend.

Funny, how the media jumped on this one, "the kids aren't MJ's!" "drug fiend who died a beggar," are just a few of the negative headlines that jump out at us from newspapers in every newstand. Now, I accept that MJ was not perfect, but tainting his image now does not bode well for the generations coming up, MJ will, or rather, SHOULD be to the next generation, what Bob Marley is to our generation, a "pioneer of our time." For this reason I am writing this article, to highlight the positives I and the world has seen and maybe forgotten.

People generally ostracise what they fail to comprehend....which is pretty much everything when it comes to celebrity. So, no surprise then, the media circus surrounding Michael's death, eh?

Even worse is the uncertainty over how Michael's life should be remembered, "Peter Pan of Neverland" or "Global Icon who had the power to unite the world through his music"?

"Michael will be larger in death than he was in life," his father, Joe Jackson stated, but this is not a man who was unnappreciated in his career, this is a man who reached the top, set high standards and surpassed any artist, living or dead, with his showmanship, smooth voice and versatility. He was a charitable patron, not many know that Michael Jackson has the Guiness World record for the Pop Star who has supported the most charities, 'but never mind that' the media say.

The Man

Michael Jackson was a celebrity, but he was celebrated for the right reasons, in fact, he was a model celebrity. For all his quirks and eccentricity, Mr Jackson remained a private man.

His lifestyle was constantly attacked, however, the difference between his celebrity being attacked and the celebrities we see today being attacked, is that Michael Jackson enforced such an extreme level of privacy in his life, he did not yearn for the attention of the media, he did not need to. In this day and time a private celebrity, "must have something to hide," so the media went to work, afterall, it is just a job for them, they do not care how many careers and lives they destroy along the way, as long as they get the 'exclusive' news piece.

How many times can you say that Michael Jackson was in the news for hitting a paparazzi, an unwarranted outburst or drunken antics as our current celebritities are so willingly associated?

For 40years of his life Mr Jackson had been in the spotlight and he handled it so well, yes, there was the emphasis on the 'many faces of Michael Jackson' but everyone has a flaw no one is perfect.

When the progression or degression of his face is mentioned, as always, it is surrounded by guess work worthy of a politician who does not know his subject.

It is rumoured that Mr Jackson, did not get on well with his father and wanted to be as far removed from him as possible, ergo the external changes we saw.

But the physical adjustments did not change the man he was. He was still a multi-platinum selling artist, still a showman, still a pioneer and most importantly of all, he was still a father and a black man, as Jamie Foxx said at the BET Awards, "Michael died a black man. He belongs to us."

Much has been made of Michael Jackson's fatherhood, many have said his eccentricity makes him an unfit father, but it is true to say how one acts in public does not reflect how one acts in the privacy of his/her home. This is refelected all over society, the men and women whom the public and media put on pedestals as role model and icons until factors of their private life come out into the open.

It is fair to say that if an adult has a negative experience in his/her youth they will do everything in their power to ensure their own children are protected from such experiences. The same can be said for Michael Jackson, from a young age he was thrust into the limelight and has been in the limelight ever since, missing out on a "normal" life and having to think as an adult at an extremely premature age. Mr. Jackson did not want his children to have the same experience, so he went to extreme measures to protect his children, yes, the methods may have seemed weird and unnecessary, but if a man loves his children and is willing to do anything to protect his children, who are we to judge?

In all the talk of Michael Jackson's apparent 'free-spending' lifestyle and debts it is a point often overlooked, that Mr Jackson was in the year 2000, handed the Guiness World Record for the "Most Charities Supported By a Pop Star". It states that Michael Jackson has supported 39 charity organizations either with monetary donations through sponsorships of their projects or by participating in their silent auction, lets not forget, he also set up the Heal The World Foundation. So to say that Mr Jackson was irresponsible with his money is an unfair and perhaps inaccurate appraisal of the kind of person he was.

In essence, Michael Jackson was no different from the rest of us if we compare him as a man, he was a man doing what he needed to do to survive. The only thing that separates him from us is his willingness to exceed the boundaries set by society and media.

The Legend

Not much needs to be said about Michael Jackson's achievements, we all saw it or even experienced it at some point in our lives.

While I was not born in the 60s to see Michael's entrance on the showbiz scene, it does not take a genius to guess that his entrance must have been immense.

Quincy Jones, owner of Motown Records who signed Michael Jackson, said of him, "To call Michael the 'King of Pop' is simply not enough, Michael was the greatest entertainer in history."

Yes, Mr Jackson was a show man, a great singer and dancer, but there was more to him than a performing act, many are in the same field as Mr Jackson but have failed to reach the same heights, such heights allowed him to become, the first performer to earn £100 million in ONE year, a multi-platinum selling artist and a captivating show man.

It is fair to say, Michael Jackson was a perfectionist, practising hours on end, until his words and scintillating dance moves were second nature. He worked his magic in almost every country around the world, casting spells on the thousands that came out to see him, no concert of Mr Jackson's was complete without a few dozens fans fainting in his presence, such was the power he had over his fans.

So, is Micheal Jackson a 'legend'?

In order to answer that, we first need to understand what a legend is. A legend is a non-historical or unverifiable story handed down by tradition from earlier times and popularly accepted as historical.

So according to this definition, yes, Michael Jackson is a legend, and he can have the media to thank for that, for all the negative coverage of his life, the media have unwittingly made him a legend. It is through the media that we hear stories of his life leading to more elaborate stories told by different people in different ways, not far removed from a game of 'chinese whispers'.

How Michael will be portrayed down the years is up for much debate, he was a very controversial character who invoked every emotion possible in people around the world fans and non-fans alike.

The Revolutionary

While Mr Jackson did not incite riots or protests, he was an effective revolutionary in the use of his music in sending out messages to the world.
Michael Jackson had a very strong message in his songs and he used the power in his voice effectively, to lead us on a journey through feelings of anger, sadness, hurt, happiness and achievement.

Michael Jackson's songs in some way, either related to his personal life or called out for us to unite, with many in between being very much songs of love and desire. His songs also used powerful videography to portray these messages, take for example, the song 'Leave Me Alone', in essence, the video emphasises the tabloid view on personal life and public image and he illustrates this through stylistic imagery, taking us on a journey through a theme park while depicting the media as dogs in suits, only out to savage him. In the end of the video we see that Mr Jackson himself is the theme park in which the media play. The video was a way of laying down the gauntlet to the media and telling them that he is willing to take them on through his music.

The genius of Michael is that he understood that 'a picture paints a thousand words', so majority of his songs were seemingly very mainstream, if you only go by the lyrics, speaking heartbreak, love and women, but if you then look at the video the songs you see a totally different story. A song like 'Leave me alone' would make any person who has not seen the video believe that Mr Jackson was talking about a woman who was after his money or taking advantage of him with his crafty use of words like 'baby' and 'girl', this widely made his songs acceptable, but beneath these songs, are strong messages for all who would but listen and see.

Michael Jackson perfectly used his music as a channel to broadcast his humanitarian views to the world, with songs such as, 'Heal the World' and 'Earth Song'. Such a passion for what he believed in allowed Michael Jackson to reach out and touch the hearts of millions, it is not often that you see a performer who puts their heart into their music and is willing to step down from their pedestal challenge the world to do something about the problems that affect the common man.

The plight of the common man was very much high in MJ's thoughts, in the song 'They don't Care About Us', Michael speaks of injustice, challenges race issues and the government.

Personally observing, this song was the most robust challenger Michael Jackson had put out to those that would seek to do him harm with lyrics such as, 'Beat me, hate me you can never break me, will me, thrill me you can never kill me.'

It is also fitting that the chorus is 'all i wanna say is they don't really care about us,' using those words, Mr Jackson forges a connection with the masses of the people by telling the world he is no different from the rest of us he also suffered injustice, discrimination and hard times. Also this is the ONLY Michael Jackson song that had TWO music videos, one being choreographed in a prison setting and the other being filmed in a shanty town in Rio de Janeiro, famed for its high poverty levels, again the message is huge, "they don't care about us."

To consolidate my summary of the affect his music had on us, not too long after his death I attended a tribute to Michael Jackson at Trafalgar Square, mainly populated by young people, so there was always the chance that something may go wrong, but the power of Michael produced an influx of positive energy and unity very rare among young people, that is until the police, stereotyping as per usual, began to surround the perimeter in hope that if anything broke out they could contain it. Up until then, the songs being sung were Michael's song of joy laughter and expression, but on appearance of the police the song 'Beat it' rang loud around Trafalgar Square directed at the police, with young people not becoming anti-social but showing a sense of unity against those that do them injustice.

This experience showed me that the spirit of Michael Jackson will live long and forever in the hearts of the people, his words were simple, "unite against oppression, unite against injustice and embrace eachother."

Michael Jackson had a gift which he shared with us, the ability to captivate, inspire and encourage his fans. He was a revolutionary in the sense that he used his music, not only to make money, but beyond that he used his music to invoke change, create a community of unity and peace in a hostile world THAT is what Michael Jackson should be remembered for.

Remember him, for the happiness he brought you when you were sad, the determination he gave you to make things happen and the love and joy that he spread through his music and dance routines. Remember.