TOPIC RESEARCH

1/5th of girls as young as 12 refuse to leave the house without make up on.
Over two-thirds of mothers say they regularly hear their daughters complain about their skin.
21% of females never wear makeup.
It is recommended that for each subject (At Alevel) you do 4 hours independent study a week
(12 hours total) and in exam season it is recommended you do 6 hours a day.
In 1987 37.9% of students spent longer than 16 hours a day socialising instead of studying and
this increased in 2014 to 38.8%. [University of Cali]

Shows that even young girls are bothered about their appearance and there is a lot
of pressure to focus on your education, no matter what else you have going on you
are supposed to do 12 hours extra studying per week. Also suggests that maybe
appearance isnt more important than education but socialising could be.
In 2013 there were 12 million graduates in the UK.
Steady increase in the number of graduates in the UK over the past decade.
In April to June 2013 graduates were more likely to be employed than those who left education with qualifications of a
lower standard.
Non-graduates aged 21 to 30 have consistently higher unemployment rates than all other groups

This shows you are more likely to be hired based on your

education as those with just GCSEs had lower
employment rates and higher unemployment/inactivity
rates than those with a higher education.

The three images above show that if you want to be in a higher skilled job, where the
annual wage is higher, then education is important. If it did not require an education
but more simply just your appearance than less people would go to university; 12
million people would not go to university if to get a good, high skilled job it was based
on your appearance.
[http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_337841.pdf]
If you want a job, you've already got an advantage if you have a degree- 89.9% of
graduates either go on to employment or further study. (2010 data)
[http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/jul/15/employment-statisticsuniversity-graduates]
Any simple reading of the ONS report makes clear that young people with degrees are better off than their counterparts.
It notes non-graduates aged 21-30 have consistently higher unemployment rates than all other groups.
Conversely, graduates are more likely to earn more, more likely to work in the most highly-skilled jobs and will see their
wage rise more quickly than their non-graduate counterparts.
A degree will not excuse stuttering through an interview, it will not correct spelling mistakes on a CV and it doesnt
individualise the generic I have a 2:1 and worked the summer at my Dads place cover letter.
A degree is proof you wanted to learn, can learn and will keep learning. It should show your mind has been stretched and
twisted, contradicted and challenged, moulded and remoulded.
[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/student-life/10473143/Degrees-do-not-guarantee-jobs-peopledo.html]

The above extract shows that although a degree does put you in a better for gaining
employment, the way you present yourself and your CV is also a key part in getting a job.

As we can see from the above news articles, although education may be important when
getting a job, the educational facilities seem to care more about their students appearance
than providing them with an education no matter how they look. Instead of allowing students
to learn they make them miss days of school for the way there hair is cut or for wearing a
jumper indoors!

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/school-sends-up-100-pupils-9986413
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3220537/Boy-11-sent-home-day-secondary-school-severe-haircut-insists-styled-favouritefootballer-Sergio-Aguero.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2821999/School-sends-home-152-pupils-one-day-wore-incorrect-uniform.html
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/news/a44991/bad-dress-code-policy-season-is-upon-us/
http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/Students-sent-home-school-wearing-wrong-clothes/story-27735713-detail/story.html
http://www.buzzfeed.com/stephaniemcneal/a-student-body-president-was-threatened-with-suspension-for#.mqqX972Ld7

How does this research help our documentary?

This research shows us that even though having a degree is important for many employers,
the way you present yourself is also important. It also shows that in schools/colleges
appearance/ looking right/ wearing the right things is essential or it means getting sent home
and missing a day (at least) of education. This shows us that there is place for debate so
there will be people who hold different views on what is more important; education or
appearance.
It shows us that we will probably get a variety of opinions in our vox pops and because there
is no 100% agreement that one is more important than the other it will enable us to get
experts who are on either end of the argument.
It will enable us to include some facts and statistics which will in turn help our narrative as it
will help us to provide an answer to the question/topic of our documentary.
The research found will directly influence our target audience as they will be in school or in
college and quite possibly making the decision on whether or not to go to university, so this
research enables us to relate to and engage with our target audience of primarily females
aged between 14 and 18. The fact that our research also shows that a lot of students sent
home for their appearances are females will also engage with our target audience as it
primarily focuses on them but does also include males.