When is My Turn?

copyright E G French

In 1968 Andy Warhol coined the phrase 'In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes'.
It does appear that today’s pre-teens have taken Mr. Warhol's words to heart. In at least two recent polls, one carried out in 2006 and the most recent, commissioned by the BBC in 2007, results reveal that of all pre-teens who were asked the question - What career would you choose on leaving school?, thirty percent replied 'Being a celebrity'.
A further survey added weight to these results when a poll of 792 parents of children aged two to five was commissioned for animated TV series Lunar Jim, on CBeebies.
Of the adults interviewed, 51 per cent were the parents of boys and 49 per cent were the parents of girls. Researchers asked parents what they thought their children, aged between two and five, would choose as a career.
Almost a third (31 per cent) said their sons and daughters wanted to be a famous performer - either a singer, dancer or actor.
The traditional responses to the same questions asked of earlier generations, such as 'fire fighter' or astronaut', fell way down the list.
Given that final exam results in 'A' level standard tests are rising in grades attained and numbers of students successfully applying for coveted university places is increasing year on year, how do these poll results reflect the perceived state of mind of our younger generation?
I suspect that those students who do well in exams and go on to further their education at university are no different to the students of earlier generations.
The increasing numbers belonging to this group could be attributed to nurturing received from better educated parents, passing on the importance of getting a 'good education' to their offspring.
The complacent generation - those children who see no future for themselves in the world of nine to five workaday reality - while receiving no such nurturing, have come to rely on the vision sold to them by the emergence of reality TV. Big Brother and X-Factor type media shows are force fed to the young from the word go.
This is direct marketing without conscience - You won't see an ad for over fifties life insurance during the commercial break during X-Factor, just shiny new mobile phone ads and download music sites.
These are the same young people for whom university was never an option in earlier generations. At least the earlier generations had the trades, the factories and the high street to aspire to.
Those same trades and factories which were the lifeblood of earlier generations are now perceived as hell on earth to a generation who, week in week out, watch total unknowns turned into the rich and famous overnight and ask;
When is it my turn?