tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post6356831130445179947..comments2023-11-03T19:05:08.512+11:00Comments on Harry Clarke: Clueless kids in Australia & AmericaUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-66416087930567700822008-04-24T20:35:00.000+10:002008-04-24T20:35:00.000+10:00Excellent post Harry. My parents, both of them une...<I>Excellent post Harry. My parents, both of them uneducated Greek peasants, placed great emphasis on education as way of advancement in a new country.</I><BR/><BR/><BR/>I wouldn't judge them successful in that pursuit, Spiros.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-49130908449351552872008-04-23T14:24:00.000+10:002008-04-23T14:24:00.000+10:00DavidP is right, most Asian migrants are from the ...DavidP is right, most Asian migrants are from the elite of their countries, and the ambitious ones.<BR/><BR/>Isn't India the largest democracy in the world?<BR/><BR/>The next generation will take up more Aussie attitudes, but inherit the advantages of their parents.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-51415344166588314582008-04-23T12:46:00.000+10:002008-04-23T12:46:00.000+10:00David, You are right of course. The migrants are a...David, <BR/><BR/>You are right of course. The migrants are a self-selected group. <BR/><BR/>But it seems to me appropriate to compare this group with resident Australians - migration makes up about 1/2 our population growth.hchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13799594181016858701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-73374342367455754912008-04-23T12:18:00.000+10:002008-04-23T12:18:00.000+10:00Hi Harry,One qualification to this is that migrati...Hi Harry,<BR/><BR/>One qualification to this is that migration is not random - are the asian migrants you are referring to just the class in Malaysia, South Korea, China, etc. who are the counterpart to the class of native born Australians who are also chosing to spend more on education, violin etc. <BR/><BR/>It is a bit rough to compare a group that has self-selected i.e. moved country at considerable cost to improve their income/standard of living with a non-self-selected group i.e those born here, of all sorts of income. <BR/><BR/>If second generations are different, maybe it is just regression to the (stingy) mean.<BR/><BR/>Before generalizing about Australians, it might be interesting to see if investment in education etc is higher among Australian expats in the US (or Singapore) etc.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-5952832232761389562008-04-23T10:40:00.000+10:002008-04-23T10:40:00.000+10:00Excellent post Harry. My parents, both of them une...Excellent post Harry. My parents, both of them uneducated Greek peasants, placed great emphasis on education as way of advancement in a new country.<BR/><BR/>"It would be interesting to know if second-generation migrants come to acquire the attitudes of long-term native-born Australians."<BR/><BR/>They do. Eventually, out goes the violin, in goes The Footy Show.<BR/><BR/>Of course it is the Right side of politics that has long advocated that migrants should assimilate into mainstream Australian culture ("She'll be right, mate", "Up the mighty Blueys" etc) and so lose the characteristics - like a strong work ethic - that made them desirable migrants in the first place.<BR/><BR/>As a nation, we are idle and complacent. But this has been known for decades. Donald Horne said in The Lucky Country in 1964. He was being ironic, but because we are idle and complacent, we didn't see the irony.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com