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For Immediate Release March 8, 2004

Teens Name “Michael Jackson” Worst Role Model; “Parents” and “Teachers” the Best, According to JA Poll

Kobe Bryant Tumbles from Good to Bad Role Model.

Colorado Springs, Colo. – Michael Jackson may be the King of Pop, but he isn’t exactly the King of Role Models, according to a new poll from Junior Achievement and Harris Interactive. In a survey of 642 teens between the ages of 13 and 18, 41 percent responded that Michael Jackson was “the worst role model today.” Kobe Bryant followed, with 11 percent of teens saying the basketball star was their worst role model. Martha Stewart was third with six percent of teens saying the same. About 37 percent of teens identified others or “Somebody Else” as the worst role model today.

As for the “best role model today,” “parents” came out on top with 28 percent of the responses, followed by “teachers” with 11 percent. It was the second year in a row parents were named best role models. However, “parents” fell from 31 percent in an identical poll conducted in 2003. “Teachers” were named best role model by 15 percent of teens in 2003. In this year’s poll, President Bush came in third with six percent, up from three percent in last year’s poll. Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey, both at four percent, and Condoleezza Rice and Jennifer Lopez, both at two percent, followed the President. Kobe Bryant got one percent of the “best role model” vote. In the 2003 poll, Kobe Bryant came in third with five percent of the vote for “best role model.”

“There is an interesting disconnect between the way teens perceive negative and positive role models,” said Edwin Bodensiek, Director of Public Affairs for Junior Achievement Inc. “While teens identified major media figures as the worst role models, almost none of them selected ‘parents’ or ‘teachers’ as bad ones. On the other hand, even when teens perceive popular media figures as good role models, they trail ‘parents’ and ‘teachers’ by significant margins. The results support the notion that teens rely on people in their daily lives, such as parents, teachers, and even mentors, to act as positive role models.”

Each year Junior Achievement recruits 120,000 everyday role models from the business community to volunteer in our nation’s classrooms. For a copy of poll results, email press@ja.org.

About Junior Achievement

Junior Achievement is the world's largest and fastest-growing organization dedicated to educating young people about business, economics and free enterprise. Through age-appropriate curricula, JA programs begin at the elementary school level, teaching children how they can impact the world around them as individuals, workers and consumers. JA programs continue through the middle and high school grades, preparing students for additional key economic and workforce issues they will face in the future. Today JA reaches more than four million students through 150 offices nationwide and another two million students in more than 100 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.ja.org.

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