Are Anglo-Australian Students the New Self-Deprived in Education? Challenging Conventional Wisdom about Ethnic Disadvantage

Evidence from the author's recent multi-site case studies of occupational socialization in seven Melbourne high schools for the Human Rights Commission and from other sources strongly suggests that second-generation migrant educational disadvantage is not inevitable. Data presented in an aspiration/motivation gradient show a clear, consistent ranking of some students from ethnic backgrounds ahead of manyAnglo-Australian students. The latter warrant being termed the new self-deprived, characterised by a self-deprivation sxndrome whose features were evident in the case studies and may have their roots in Anglo-Australian cultural values which can be contrasted with ethnic cultural
values.