Are Bristol Palin, Miss California role models?

Miss America's job just got harder
“It is making my job more and more difficult by the day,” said Stam, who said she has logged 20,000 miles of travel time each month in carrying out her duties. “Even though it’s challenging, it’s a challenge I welcome. People have a stereotype in the back of their minds that every beauty pageant is the same, and it’s an opportunity for me to say that there are so many amazing opportunities available with each pageant, and it just depends on what you do with those opportunities.”

Stam recently returned from Germany, where she made a series of appearances. She often tours hospitals and schools and, among other causes, is involved in Heroes At Home, which helps rehabilitate houses for use by military families. She said she often gets feedback from kids about her status as a role model.

“When I go to schools, little girls say to me, ‘I want to be just like you when I grow up,’” Stam said. “It’s very heartwarming because I can put myself in that position. When I was three, I wanted to be Miss America growing up. I’m just a small-town country girl from Indiana with nothing to my name except my name, my fantastic family and a wonderful community. I had this dream and this goal.”

But Ed Robertson, a journalist and pop culture critic, said that while individuals like Stam are indeed positive role models, they are secondary to family and loved ones. “More than ever, it’s really up to parents and teachers and caregivers to instill good values and responsibilities,” he said.

One of Robertson’s points of emphasis is reality television. In a way, both Bristol Palin and Carrie Prejean could be placed in that category, if you broaden the term beyond “The Real World” and “Survivor.” He said there is an important distinction between those who may have some influence during their 15 minutes of fame, and those who have more than 15 minutes’ worth of influence to offer.

“These days,” he said, “kids grow up with reality TV shows where you’re basically encouraged to make a jerk out of yourself and are rewarded with instant fame.

“If you’re a parent and you can avoid the immediate knee-jerk reaction, you can say to your son or daughter, ‘OK, they’re going to get noticed. But unless you have a marketable skill, something you build your sudden fame upon, whatever impact you have is not going to last.”

Michael Ventre lives in Los Angeles and is a regular contributor to msnbc.com.

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