With her sleek black hair and model looks, she walks on to the stage to show that beauty and brains can go together. But in a few, brief minutes in the question and answer round, she proves she knows more about the price of baby oil than crude oil.<\/p>\n
So are beauty pageants dim or dazzling? And is it better to think big instead of thinking beautiful? <\/p>\n
The Guardian went to find out, after two Bahamian beauty contestants, Rashanna Thompson and Aquella Plakaris, picked up the major prizes in last week's Miss Commonwealth Triple Crown pageants.<\/p>\n
"The pageant is a good thing," said Nassau-based George Francis, 40. "But it doesn't matter if someone thinks you are beautiful because at the end of the day, it's brains that matter. <\/p>\n
"In terms of people wanting to know what you are about, it's beauty that draws them to you, but at the end of the day, education is what matters."<\/p>\n
Middle-aged Alice Morley echoed that view. She felt massaging the brain was more important than having a facial. "In the end, there has to be some level of education," she said.<\/p>\n
After all, beauty fades but knowledge is eternal. Finding the right job is more important than buying the right lip-gloss, according to our poll.<\/p>\n
"Beauty doesn't count, but they feel that it counts and then they are as dumb as bats," one woman, who refused to be named, said. <\/p>\n
"They tend to use beauty for the wrong stuff. Instead, get them jobs, education, let them participate in something that will send them to school . . . get them into school . . . to finish school."<\/p>\n
But there were others polled who preferred glamour to geeks. <\/p>\n
"Now a days, beauty is a way to get jobs, and it also makes you keep your job. A smart girl may not be good looking, while you may have a good looking girl that may just be a little slow," said Chris Saunders, 20. "In business, they want them beautiful."<\/p>\n
While many believe education is the key to success, a young businesswoman said looking the part will unlock all the right doors.<\/p>\n
"Beauty opens door for you at the end of the day," she said. "We are a vain society."<\/p>\n
Others believe that entering pageants is one way young women can build their characters.<\/p>\n
"I go for the pageants because that helps to bring out the shyness that is in some women," John Smith, 75, a construction worker said. "Young girls at times are so shy they can't even approach a person."<\/p>\n
But whatever it is that pageants contribute to the lives of young women, the words of Nelson Mandela at his 1994 inaugural ceremony in South Africa are worth remembering. <\/p>\n
Mandela said: "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us most. <\/p>\n
"We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you."<\/p>\n
By: LAURA MATTHEWS, The Nassau Guardian<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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