That's a bit harsh Wren! As is the Australian way, I feel a patriotic compulsion to defend our place in the world of smarts
Australia is widely regarded as punching above its weight intellectually and academically - for example we've had four Nobel laureates in the past 7 years, in medicine and science. Pretty good for a country with a population that is yet to hit 23 million. And hey, while we're at it, we're running one of the few functioning economies in the developed world!
However you're unlikely to see it on show when you're here. Australian's are very, very wary of anyone who seems too smart - the legacy of our history is that we're wary of anything inherited and not earned(we are continually rated as among the hardest working nations in the world, despite our image as laid back). According to Wikipedia we are probably the longest users of the term Tall Poppy Syndrome in the modern world, and ultimately because we refuse to acknowledge our best and brightest (off the cricket field and out of the swimming pool at least) we loose a lot of our best people overseas. It's also one of the things that contributes to the difficulties in advocating for gifted kids here - we don't have a culture of wanting to be the best, instead we have a culture of 'the fair go' that is so pervasive that it is ingrained in almost every aspect of our culture (though it does ensure a high standard of education regardless of status). Our commitment to egalitarianism has such a strong influence on our education policies that Miraca Gross devotes a section to it in on of her chapters in Exceptionally Gifted Children.
So reeallly we're just like an under the radar gifted kid... right?
Now ... the ability of Australians (this one at least) to stay on topic can, however, rightly be questioned!
