Céline helps battle dropout problem in Canada

[CSCfan]

Céline Dion, other celebrities help battle dropout problem

 

September 8, 2009 4:25 PM

 

MONTREAL – Listen up, everybody.

 

Quebec celebrities Normand Brathwaite, Jean Béliveau, Céline Dion and a host of others have something to say.

 

And it’s not just aimed at students, but parents and everyone else in Quebec society about the importance of kids staying in school.

 

The public service announcements began airing Tuesday in French on stations affiliated with Corus Entertainment across Quebec.

 

A recurring theme is: “Each time we encourage a youth, we’re probably creating one less dropout.”

 

“The many celebrities who agreed to lend their voice for free for this campaign insist on the importance of everyone’s involvement in encouraging youth to stick with their studies,” said Jacques Ménard, the president of BMO Financial Group, Quebec.

 

The campaign is being spearheaded by the high-powered working group assembled by Ménard that has proposed ways to curb Quebec’s alarming dropout rate.

 

One of the measures proposed by Ménard’s group in its report in March was to get Quebecers to rally around the idea of promoting education and keeping kids in schools.

 

Not all of the public service announcements have been recorded yet, such as those by Céline Dion and her husband, René Angélil.

 

The other high-profile participants in the awareness campaign include Kent Nagano, music director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, singer Robert Charlebois and entrepreneur and pharmacist Jean Coutu.

 

The campaign launch comes on the eve of tomorrow’s announcement by Education Minister Michelle Courchesne about the government’s long-awaited game plan to deal with the dropout rate.

[Matias]

Wasn't Celine a drop out and someone who said " school is not for everybody" ?

[Davey84]

cool!!! although dropping out and become one of the world biggest succesful singers isn't the right example!

I wonder if we'll have a new photo too!

[Shamrock_1982]

Cool thing to do if its a real problem there, and as much as I love Celine, is she really the best person to be doing this....? lol

Didn't she drop out of school to pursue a music career, hmmmm

 

Darren.

[somethingblue474]

I think that would give a false advertisement, I mean we all love Celine but she did drop out of school at the age of 15 or 16(I think) to pursue her singing. Who knows maybe she will say something like even though I did you should not.

[Dion1st]

Cool thing to do if its a real problem there, and as much as I love Celine, is she really the best person to be doing this....? lol

Didn't she drop out of school to pursue a music career, hmmmm

 

Darren.

 

My first reaction too, Darren. But perhaps, with the use of clever writers, they can use Celine's astronomical success as the message to stay in school. Yes, she is one person out of thousands who dropped out of school and has made a successful career. But where in life are the other thousands who have also left school and struggle unnecessarily without that diploma? The message being that success can happen but the odds are probably overwhelmingly against you.

 

I don't know, it's just a thought.........

 

Toni

[Peppercorn1991]

I think that celine is the right sort of person to promtethis. I mean even tho celine is the world biggest selling femail artist in the world, im sure she has found it hard and still does with some subjects such as maths and science. I know she isnt thick or anything lol but i think she only knows the basics of things and may struggle in some subjects because she dropped out of school. It must mean a big deal to her because she always says how important that rene-charles goes to school or he is being home schooled or he has a teacher or tour with them lol she know its very important. Celine In my eyes can tell how hard it is not to go to school because she has experienced it for herself lol She has a great story to tell youngsters about school

 

kev

[Thomas]

I suppose she knows how hard it is to achieve success like hers. She has said before that talent alone isn't enough, you need the right team behind you as well, and a lot of people don't get the right kind of support to be able to take thier talent and turn it into a real career. If she can make people realise that not every dream is realised and you must have backup education incase things don't work out then it might make people think twice about dropping out of school.

[Claudette]

Why don't we wait and first hear what she has to say before we start arguing whether or not Celine is the right person for this...

[mebe]

Well I think she is the right person to do that. Remember, she always said in the past that she suffered from not having a good education because she couldnt write properly etc... And she knows that she has been very lucky to have that career even if she was not in school when she was young. I guess the percentage of students who drop out and can still have a decent career is not so high. So yes I think she can encourage people to stay in school for better chances of having a better quality of life afterwards.

[LooneyLindz]

I think Céline may just be the perfect person to encourage kids to stay in school. Not because she dropped out and became a huge celebrity, but because she has said she wishes she could write better and she suffers today because she didn't have the right education. Kids may listen to her before they listen to someone who finished school and went on to college; school was difficult for Céline and they can relate to that.

 

She may talk about her own struggles, or how she wants René-Charles to succeed in school. Regardless, it will be interesting to see what she says!

[aba3rafsh]

Here's the link to the article http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainme...2563/story.html

There were some nasty comments about Celine. I think it would be of great help to post something positive about her like the stuff discussed on here...

Some people just like to bash her because its the cool thing to do...

[celine_rox]

i think sometimes she regrets not finishing school.

in todays world education is everything

[SFchick]

Pot calling kettle black much?

[ThisTime]

I thought it was kinda humorous when I first read the title, but perhaps she'd be telling kids that even though she's achieved so much she still wishes she finished school? But she always said she never regretted it before so who knows

[Defyxx]

Well rene did mortgage his house too for her record, and i don't think they would suggest that to anyone. Lol

So i bet its like a "i did it, but i had to do it, because singing was the only thing in the world that i wanted, couldn't be a famous singer, going to school, but unless you are 100 percent sure about what you want, go to school for oppurtunities" type thing. Idk thats just my take.

[ghazal]

cool!!!she is the best one to do this

[sazzlepop123]

I thought this was a joke at first!

Celine is however a great influential person and it is wonderful she is supporting this. Although she herself dropped out I guess she can say she understands where kids are coming from (for whatever reason it might be that they want to drop out) and tell them to ''think twice'' (pardon the pun) about their choice.

 

I just can't wait to see what she looks like at the moment !!!

[Peppercorn1991]

I wonder if celine is involved in trying to make school a nice place for kids.

 

kev

[celinefan5]

I think she'll do an excellent job. And even if she didn't finish school, she did have to take English lessons...and plus who else in the world has a voice like Celine? lol

[Jacqui]

I don't think it's fair for people to say it's hypocritical of her. Things are very different now, to the way they were when Celine was a kid. These days, just about everyone goes through to 12th Grade and then on to college. Back then, not so much. I don't know if she 'regrets' dropping out of school or not, but she might do something entirely different if she was in that situation now.

[Davey84]

actually she does regret not going to school. I don't remember where she said it; but she does regret not knowing how to express herself the best she can, because she doesn't know the grammar that well. That makes her shy and uncomfortable at times. I guess that's one of the reasons why she insists the best education for RC.

 

I think she knows the Englsih grammar better than the French one, because she had many english lessons. Anyway of course it's a great cause to participate with and I hope it will be a succes

[maceta_biloxi]

Wasn't Celine a drop out and someone who said " school is not for everybody" ?

 

Yes she was a drop out...

[VintageCeline]

Hmm.....

 

Most people know that Celine dropped out of school as she has said 'School is not for everyone', so why would anyone take advice, knowing that she's a dropout herself?.

 

On the other hand, it is Celine. And if does help one person, thats alot better then none at all. I also want to see what she looks like now! Ahhh I can't wait!

 

We all know how generous Celine and Rene are, so lets hope it helps the cause! Woop.

[Terre]

That's great! It'll be interesting to hear what Céline has to say as she was a drop out herself. Thanks for sharing the info!

[idroveallnight]

I think she is also a great person to do this. She said in an interview on ABC a while back that she suffers very much today from not going to school, especially when it comes to writing -- which probably explains why she does not write her own songs. They also asked her if she would be okay if RC came to her one day and said he wants to drop out of school and become a singer...and her immediate response was to say no but she said she would probably try to make some type of deal with him even though she believes that school is not for everyone. And I somewhat agree with her, but unless you plan to be the next Celine Dion or patent a great invention, it's hard to further yourself in life without an education.

[AtitanicfanofCelineDion]

I think she is also a great person to do this. She said in an interview on ABC a while back that she suffers very much today from not going to school, especially when it comes to writing -- which probably explains why she does not write her own songs. They also asked her if she would be okay if RC came to her one day and said he wants to drop out of school and become a singer...and her immediate response was to say no but she said she would probably try to make some type of deal with him even though she believes that school is not for everyone. And I somewhat agree with her, but unless you plan to be the next Celine Dion or patent a great invention, it's hard to further yourself in life without an education.

 

I agree with you wholeheartedly but there is no next celine dion . Celine is in a league of her own:)