Simon Cowell is the "principal prophet" of a cult of celebrity, which saps children of motivation and discourages them from working hard in the classroom.

The attack is worthy of the scathing comments The X Factor supremo usually knocks young hopefuls back with on his reality shows, but actually comes from the mouth of the education secretary Michael Gove. 

According to the education secretary, Cowell's assertion in an interview earlier this month that children do not need good results at school was very damaging to the future of this generation of pupils.

Cowell said: "I didn't work hard when I was at school. I left at 16 and didn't have any qualifications. I was useless. The secret is to be useless at school and then get lucky."

Responding in an essay published in the Daily Mail, Mr Gove called Cowell's views a "brutally cynical encapsulation" of a new "creed" of celebrity and labelled the mogul the leader of this "cult".

The minister said that Cowell was preaching a message that encouraged pupils to forget about studying hard while at school and instead hope that life's lottery will give them a golden ticket.

Mr Gove said even if Cowell's words were said in a jovial manner, it is hard to imagine a more damaging message to send out to this current generation of young people  who have to look to achieve and aspire amid an increasingly influential population of reality-show winners, footballers' wives and glossy magazine cover stars.

As somebody who has been training for a teaching job and hoping to inspire young people to be the best they can be, do you think Mr Gove has this one right?

Should society be doing more to recognise academic achievement and hard work?

Let us know your views on the Gove-Cowell debate.