Council esate folk being praised for making something of themselves - What do we think of this?

[DrNortherner]

Spent the first 18 years of my life on a council estate, went to the local sink comp and have done alright for myself.

Cheryl Cole gets prasie for having acheived so much, and she grew up on an estate.

How do we feel about this praise?

Yes I grew up on a tough estate but my parents were excellent role models, good people with morals and a hard work ethcic which was passed to me.

Discuss

well, I feel it's rather patronising to say the least!

Its patronising and is based on a pig ignorant assumption that if you live on a council estate you must be no good

Agree, patronising in the extreme

bit daft really, she won a talent show and married a footballer, so hardly up there with being a doctor or nurse.

TBH I dont think she's achieved that much. I mean yes shes a famous sleb who got lucky in a relaity show. But she not working in medical research or the frontline in afghanistan is she?

And tbh it makes me so that if somebody praised me for doing well "despite" living on a council estate I would tell them to feck off!

sorry meant to say that it doesnt matter where she came from its that fact that she hasnt achieved much, thats the bit that pisses me off

What does she actually do anyway apart from mime to tracks and shake her fanny about on stage?

Deffo patronising - people on council estates are as varied as anyone else, it doesn't mean anyone should be amazed that you manage to do something useful or interesting with your life.

my neighbor was brought up on a council estate(we were neighbors there) she became a social worker, now that is an achievement,

Agree. she hasn't 'achieved' anything as far as I can see and she certainly does not have anything in her life that I would aspire too!
And if she's a role model then I really do despair.

I don't see what having started out on a council estate has to do with anything.

My siblings and I were brought up on a council estate. My sister has a degree and is a nurse, my brother has a degree, masters and a PHd and is a Dr of Philosophy.

Yep I agree, very patronising. I was also brought up on a council estate.

Sh hasn't achieved anything special, she has a very pretty face, and THAT is what has carried her so far. I don't know anyone who wouldn't be able to do what she does.

Interesting discussion but just to point out that this praise came from "Wagner" who the next day compared himself to a soldier, a samurai and said he was with God! Patronising it maybe but I think it was the most normal thing he said all weekend.

I grew up in a council estate and I find the comment patronising but not offensive.

Growing up in a poor area, going to the sink estate school and not having the same advantages that a child growing up in a middle class household is likely to have had does mean that it is harder to be successful.

Patronising yes.

You're born where you are born; goodness, In My Day council house residents (of which I was another one) weren;t from some underclass, everyone pretty much barring the widowed mother of my friend was either working or retired. It was a very different system indeed- just a secure housing tier for those who didn't want or couldn;t afford to buy 9for my aprents, dad had a drink issue and Mum didn;t trust him enough to sign a mortgage, although theya re still together now 40 + years on).

These days you ahve to be destitute (though not necessarily at fault) and desperate to be awrded a council home; very different back along. And whilst none of my schoolmates seem to ahve been to uni or anything (I have), they've all done OK in their different ways and don't desrve to have such silly shit comments made.

I'd certainly shake my arse around on a stage if somebody paid me a tenner

I only heard his explanation of his comments, and it seemed to me that he was saying that Cheryl Cole could be a role model to those people on council estates who had lost aspiration. I think this is reasonable - it's like when people say that there need to be more male black role models, because a significant number of black males feel they can't aspire to anything because they are black and male.

As with everything, generalisations don't work, because we are a nation of individuals, but it is true that there are people leaving on council estates who have given up on aspiration, and someone who has become highly successful in ANY field is a role model.

Yes santasmooningarse I agree, when I was a kid nearly everyone on the estate had a job. People had nice gardens with cut grass and some of the old folk grew veg and stuff.

My Mum is still in the same house so I have seen the estate change over the pas 30 odd years and it has changed so much for the worse.....

how sad that they can't find a better role model, it is almost like they pick the one who has done the least proper work(by that I mean school/college work) to get where they are.
surely there must be a brilliant author or person with and education that they can use.

So people who have given up on having a future can think 'if I can be pretty and thin I can be famous too!'?

Not forgetting being up for assaulting someone in a nightclub toilets. Oh yeah she's a great role model.

I tend to think the more role models there are the better! In all sectors of society, not just 'council estates'.

Having said that, I do agree that aspiring to be like Cheryl Cole might not be the best thing, but I think that's where the comments came from. Inevitably, slebs are higher profile than people who have become doctors etc.

A role model who had achieved something by hard work might be a better thing to aspire to. I think too many youngsters these days aspire to being famous, instead of aspiring to work hard, study, and make something of their lives by their own efforts. Hoping to be "discovered" doesn't make most of them put any real effort into a more realistic goal, like going to college and getting a decent job.

And yy to assaulting people in toilets not being a good example to set!

(Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't hold CC up as an example of how to get on in life, BUT I think that was the root of the comments, rather than either sneering at council estates, or patronising people for making something of themselves).