“”I understand what people are saying that the opportunities for David are here today and school will always be there to come back to. However, with his parents seemingly being smart people, Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m actually a little surprised that his parents let him audition so young. If they had waited maybe another year or two, then he wouldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t be in this situation in the first place.”"

Heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s in the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“situationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  of living out his dream all because he took a chance. That is not a something to complain about or regret by any stretch of my imagination.

But my point is that his parents could have insisted that he live out his dream AFTER he finished high school. That way this situation where getting his high school diploma gets postponed due to work commitments wouldn’t be an issue. Why couldn’t he have taken a chance in one to two years instead? His talent wasn’t going anywhere.

I am also a teacher with a master’s degree, and my husband is a university professor with a PhD. I am the one in the neighborhood who counsels all of the kids on getting the best teachers at the high school and the best education that will get them to the college they want to go to. I counsel them also on getting into college and how to get the best teachers there. My husband always says people ought to be paying me to advise them. Education is hugely important to me.

Personally, I am not a fan of the GED only because it has a stigma of people who dropped out of high school because they were having problems and later wanted to get proof of their education, but If David was in my neighborhood and he or his parents came to me with his circumstances, I would tell him to get his GED as soon as possible, since that is what is acceptable among young musicians/actors. If a student chose not to finish all of their credits for various reasons, but was going straight into college, and I thought they were going to finish, I wouldn’t advise them to get the GED. They don’t need it.

If for some reason, in a year, David’s vocal cords fail or something else happens so that he can’t do music anymore, I am sure he would go to college, and he would do very well. He has the profile of a successful, hardworking student.

I can also see his experience and knowledge as a performer being misconstrued (potentially) as someone who knows what he wants and tries to get that done. Brings to mind the comment that he was the one who stood up for the idols regarding the lip-syncing (and Kris commented, iirc, about Adam making a stand for them for some other future issue – like he’s the one in the group to do that). Performances like Feeling Good remind me of someone who knows what he wants and how he wants it done. I’ve done a lot of work in theater and music (and musical theater, for that matter!) and I know really confident, smart talented performers who just know how they want things done. That, unfortunately, could be misconstrued as “diva”-like, and people will especially be keen on applying bad labels like that to him just to sell more mags, get more hits, etc. Definitely the sad price of fame.

I have seen and heard nothing bad about him, though, from others who met him or dealt with him on the show, and he has always struck me as a very upbeat, open, and fun guy. I just think his other traits (enumerated above) will have people misinterpret some of his actions. If this story even has any merit.

My interest in this argument continues, I think, because David is very much like other kids I know who are motivated to make good grades in school, who like and are liked by their teachers, who participate fully in social and extracurricular groups, etc. He followed Idol for years, and was aware of many who tried out several times before making it on. I think he went into it with the awareness that he may not go far, but figured he’d give it a shot because he had a feeling he should.

He made it through, and then he succeeded some more, and then he passed another hurdle and then another, etc. He’s still moving forward with good momentum. I have no doubt that if things slow down for him just a bit, he’ll work on other things he needs to work on — including the schooling. I’d speculate that this goal is never far from his mind.

My training is as a teacher, and I have school-age daughters who know they are expected to graduate from college. If one of them had a very rare gift that would benefit from them taking a different path, I’d see what I could do to help them. If one of them started hanging out too much in the basement, watching TV, or stayed out too late with friends every night, or allowed their grades and attendance to slip, I’d be changing some house rules and denying privileges. We’re talking two widely different things, IMO.

I understand what people are saying that the opportunities for David are here today and school will always be there to come back to. However, with his parents seemingly being smart people, Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m actually a little surprised that his parents let him audition so young. If they had waited maybe another year or two, then he wouldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t be in this situation in the first place.

He’s in the “situation” of living out his dream all because he took a chance. That is not a something to complain about or regret by any stretch of my imagination.

Hundreds, thousands of teens audition for Idol every sing year with their parents’ support, for the most part, and very, very few get through. David didn’t expect to get through either. He considered just keeping his summer job and not going but he felt he should go to that audition in San Diego and this is where he is now. Maybe that’s just fate. But it’s a pretty cool place to be in and why second guess that? It seems kind of crazy to me. Some people are just born to do this and I’ve seen enough of his progression to know that David is one of those people.

Actually, in the Fox interview posted above, David talks about how he loved being in the UK because heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not that well known there and he could be a tourist and travel everywhere on the tube (Londonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s equivalent to a subway system). He talked about all the historical landmarks and places he visited, etc.

I really don’t think seeing Big Ben in person, or riding a subway, is a suitable replacement for proper schooling. Too many of these showbiz kids drop out of school. School comes first. The entertainment industry isn’t going anywhere. Get the HS diploma ASAP David, even if that means you don’t do the Christmas album.

And Simon Cowell is not a role model for anyone — and not a typical high school dropout. He was primarily raised by nannys. He and his bother were sent off to boarding school and were frequently transferred for their misconduct. He started drinking and smoking at 9. By the time Cowell dropped out at 16 years old, he had already been a registered student at 16 schools — and graduated from none.

IMO the only think to admire about Simon is his Armani T-Shirts.

I have followed DA and “his people” pretty closely during the last year, and I don’t ever remember any of them trying to shift focus about his education. They have barely even spoken about the whole issue, other than saying they were trying to make the decision about what to do.

Brittany Spears is a huge pop icon, who I think will be around a long, long time. Like her or not, she is not “a garden variety” anything.

Or Simon Cowell. Heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a high school drop out too. Donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t forget him. And Cher, Pierce Brosnan,Whoopi Goldberg, Johnny Depp, Julie Andrews, Ray Charles as well. There are tons more.

I guarantee that’s a small fraction compared to those who have dropped out and failed in their aspirations. Very small fraction.

Education is paramount in many ways other than just being a pretty piece of paper with your name on it.

I do hope Archie at least finishes up HS.

Is Adam Lambert already a diva? MSNBCà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s The Scoop says that the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“behind-the-scenes talk at many of the stops along Lambertà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s publicity tour is how difficult he is to work with.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

Really? I thought he was quite nice while he was in New York à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  although he was a bit rushed. But thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not really his fault, he had a busy schedule. His scary bodyguard was like twice as big as me.

The real insight of course is that the media is now starved for Adam Lambert news. First the New York Times and now MSNBC.com à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  bring on that Rolling Stone cover!

Obviously h.s. dropouts cover a wide variety of folk. I also think Archie will get a GED just like most performers his age. Just to be serious, musicians and artists often drop out of h.s. to pursue their dreams. It’s not always a big mistake.