In my opinion role models are very important for kids as well as for young adults. Teenagers always need somebody with who they can identify and who they can look up to. For them it is important to have somebody who has more life experience and who can help them with their problems and the questions they have. All over the world and in every part of life you can find role models. Everybody looks up to role models even if they are not conscious of it. In every situation of our life we meet people and often we think that we would like to look like somebody or that we would like to act like somebody.
I think that almost everybody can be a good role model, for instance an older brother or an older sister, a friend, a coach or even a teacher. Teenagers are geared to role models and they think that their role models do everything right. A person who is a good role model needs to be well-behaved, polite and intelligent. Only if a role model fulfills those criteria it is a good role model. I think it is totally normal, that small kids look up to everybody who is better in doing something as they are. The best examples, as already mentioned, are sports associations or similar organizations.
A role model who was important for me was one of my ballet teachers. I always looked up to her and admired her for her competence. Actually everybody in the class wanted to be like her and everybody wanted to be able to dance as good as she did.
The same situations you can find in every school. First grade students always look up to the older grades and even the students who are in high school look up to college students
From, Slow Starter
Young adults need to have some role models which they can look up to, to learn how to behave in our society. I strongly believe that the parents are the people of which young adults learn the most, as the parents are the people who young adults spent the most time with (despite their same aged friends). If the parents are not able to show their kids how to behave correctly in different situations such as conflicts, talking to superiors (teacher, boss), who else can teach them? If young adults do not learn these habits while growing up, they will have a lot of difficulties in their future life.
Having described the influence of the parents, I have to mention the influence of famous musicians or athletes to young adults, too. Teenagers do not only listen to the music of the artist, thanks to the reporters and paparazzi of the gossip magazines, they are able to follow the personal lifestyle of the artist very closely. If they see the bad habits of the musicians, such as excessive drinking or smoking, the might adapt these habits without any concerns about their health. Teenagers often identify their favorite artists as hero and not as a ‘normal’ human being, who makes mistakes as every other human.
Speaking of athletes as role models, I can add an example which I experienced myself. In Switzerland, Roger Federer is, of course, the idol of nearly every tennis player. But as he has usually very good manner on and off the tennis court, he is a very good role model for all people. As Federer had played a couple of bad matches some years ago het got frustrated and as a consequence he destroyed his racket by smashing it on the court. As this had happened in spring, just short before the Swiss tennis season was about to begin, I saw throughout the summer many kids who were doing the same thing. They saw Federer doing that on TV and thought it was cool because he had done it. But they will stop smashing their rackets for sure, at the latest when they have to pay themselves for a new racket…
From, Hans Muller aka. John Smith
I‘d say that a perfect role model for young adults would be a mixture between several people. Maybe between Bob Marley, Obama, Al Gore, Lionel Messi and Isaac Newton. Everyone of them has a speciality and is in some ways extreme. Bob Marley strived for peace, Obama has magnificent leader qualities, Al Gore fights for the protection of the environment and for a „greener“ planet, Lionel Messi is one of the most ambitious and successful sportsman of all the time and Isaac Newton was a genius. Wouldn‘t it be great if every young child had a piece of them in it
But as I think that we should be able to somehow grab the best role model, I‘d like to mention one person who I consciously didn‘t bring up before and who comes closest to the perfect role model I described before. He is somehow my personal role model too. He‘s a visionary for me, a genius and above all simply a fascinating person. He thinks different. He‘s described as one of the biggest entrepreneurs of our century. And he knows how to bring design no nearest perfection. It‘s Steve Jobs.
Jobs is one of the most inspiring person for me and certainly for young adult too. I just want to note a few quotes from him which show his remarkable personality. They show us what‘s really important in life, that what you‘re going to do in your life is all about passion and love, it‘s about thinking different.
“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
“Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?”
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.
„Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.“
„Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.“
„Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me ... Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful... that's what matters to me.“
From, Ms. (Im)Perfect
From my point of view, there is not a certain person or a certain gender that is best or worst as a role model. It is more about how they behave. Children need to identify with the person and they need to adore them. Whether it is a celebrity or a family member, anyone can be a role model.
For me, it was my mother who was e role model. I had not realized that when I was young but the older I get the more I realize that I act and behave like her. It is not that I am trying to be like her, but I always adored her and respecter her so much for what she was and still is doing for me and my siblings. That could be the reason why I’m alike her in so many ways. My mother is so generous and cares about other people. She taught me without knowing how to treat people, animals and even nature respectfully.
In general, children as well as young adults have more than only one role model in their lives. Sometimes they don’t even realize that a person was a role model. However, The best ones for me are those who don’t try to be one. Good role models are people who act responsibly and try to be good. Not because they want to be a role model, but because they want to be good for themselves. Not wanting to be a role model does not permit people to do what they want. Everybody should be aware that always a child could be watching. That does not mean that you are not allowed to make mistakes, but it is important to learn from these mistakes. Children need to know that mistakes are not bad, there good as long as you learn from them.
From, Alex K.
In the following text I will be referring to children and teenagers when talking about young people. They are the ones who are influenced very easily by their role models and are therefore more relevant to these questions. The first role models for children are obviously their parents or older siblings. This may change soon after they had become teenagers and are not interested in what their parents have to say. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that they look for another role model and chose the people they think are “cool”. These are mostly singers, actors or other celebrities and not people who are respected for the intellectual abilities like for example politicians or scientists.
Since a lot of young people are looking up to these celebrities, they should be very aware of their role as a role model. It does not necessarily mean that they should create a false image of themselves with the aim of becoming the perfect role model, which most of them only do in order to earn more money, but it does no harm if they do it nonetheless.
Unfortunately, some celebrities and especially teen stars cannot cope with the pressure and start to abuse drugs. Consequently, young adults are influenced by them and do the same. Seeing their idols going to rehab and coming out of it like nothing happened makes it even worse. A good example for bad role models are hence Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and all the other singers/actors who had been a patient in one of the famous rehabilitation clinics (which are advertised like spa centres), before they even got old enough to drink. They all show a very bad picture of their reality which is not what happens if a “normal” girl gets drawn into the drug hell.
I am very curious about the huge Justin Bieber mania and how it is going to end. He is a role model to millions and millions of children and teenagers, who would do anything if he said so or saw him doing it. I really hope that his career does not take this wrong turn and that he can resist the alcohol and the drugs.
No comments:
Post a Comment