tall poppy syndrome

Amy Stein and Stacy Mehrfar have just published a collection of photos which explores tall poppy syndrome in Australia. As Amy states in a recent interview with Benjamin Starr, “Stacy was visiting NYC from Sydney and... in the course of discussing life in Australia she mentioned the term. I immediately said that would be a great book. The term was so strange and arresting to me. When we realized that it represented a viewpoint and practice so far from ideas of American individualism and exceptionalism we knew that we potentially had an interesting project.” For rest of brief interview and selected images go to http://www.visualnews.com/2012/09/29/tall-poppy-syndrome-on-a-cultural-phenomenon/.

Given current election campaign dynamics, perhaps the ideological proponents of great wealth would do well to address critics in relation to this particularly "unAmerican" concept.

the dragon children: what's behind the success of Chinese-Australian students

The Dragon Children is a rich-media project sponsored by the SBS that focuses on the generally high scholastic performance, as well as anxieties, of Chinese-Australian students. Topics include parenting ambitions and styles, children's reactions to parental pressures, programs in Australia attempting to train parents to temper their aspirations in order to make more well-rounded offspring, and comments by former Dragon Children, now adults. For arguments supporting the notion of American-style Dragon Children, see this excerpt from Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother; for a counter perspective, view Bending the Stereotypes of Chinese Parenting.