The Wire

Young Australians are hiding their academic talent and feigning an interest in sports to avoid being ostracized by their peers, a new study sees this as symptomatic of Australian anti intellectualism. Miraca Gross, Professor in Gifted Education and Director of the Gifted Education Research Resources and Information Centre or GERRIC at the University of NSW has been researching the development of 60 children for the last twenty years tracing their evolution from childhood, through adolescence and into adulthood. She has found that Australians are suspicious of intellectual ability and traces this mistrust to the convict history that leaves Australians feeling ambivalent towards power, wealth and education.