Hannah Montana Effect

My little girl is fond of Hannah Montana as many of the other kids are. However, I did not realize how much influence Ms. Montana has on my kids until a couple of weeks ago. My little girl has taken a vow at birth not to eat vegetables. A vow that she managed to keep, despite our tries, until that day a clever niece of mine was visiting from our northern neighbor. My niece noticed that the name of a package of vegetables had a name that matched Ms. Montana's last name. The word Montana was printed on the package in bold letters. This discovery was enough to make my girl go after the okra as if it were cheese pizza. It has become Montana's okra, not that boring side of vegetables any more.This huge influence has stirred in my mind the question of why don't channels such as Disney use their huge influence through the stars of their shows in a positive way. Let us take for example the problem of below standard performance of our children in Math and Science or getting girls interested in careers in Science and Engineering. Despite many government programs that aim at achieving just that, it seems they are no match to popular TV shows that go the extra mile to make fun of serious students as geeks and nerds. Government programs are no match to popular TV stars. Why not use the stardom power to build a positive image that encourages other kids to take pride in academic achievement as much as sports. These kids are the future of our country and the hope for maintaining our economic prosperity. If Ms. Montana can make vegetables taste good, she can definitely make studying taste sweet!!!