When I said "good quality" I did not mean in a "genetic" sense.

I meant these were people who were determined that their kids would have a better life than they did. Largely they have done this by emphasising the importance of education.

We should be worried if migrant families were not doing this sort of thing.

A variety of factors Hasbeen. Oz kids lifting their game? Many I work with have lifted their game "on their own", coming from many Australian parents who have not blackmailed, pressured, stressed, or pushed their kids into achieving a 'chosen' profession; as do many parents of other newer cultures living in Australia. Witnessed it in quite a few colleagues during conversations with them, meeting their kids and friends of my kids.

Whether these kids work and/or continue to work in the professions chosen by their parents should be taken into consideration regarding your opinion 'Oz kids lifting their game'.

I would rather a health professional of 'sound mind' treating my family and self as opposed to a health professional with revenge anger and frustration in the back of their mind, as a result of their abusive newly arrived immigrant parents having forced their kids to study and qualify designated degrees and work in 'enforced' professions.

One group of my daughter's friends [including herself] are Apprentices doing well after completing Year 12. Her other friends are attending University, most have chosen careers that directly assist the public, and most are mapping out plans after their completed Apprenticeships to open businesses. I chatted to one friend [22 years] of my daughter's last night who is saving hard to open a business [minus parental support]. Excellent References were obtained from the employer as a result of four years solid work, genuine passion, respect and loyalty. PASSION! It is either naturally present or missing!

The majority of Australian born kids I know, through friends of mine, do qualify and are now well into their early 20's working in their "chosen" professions, thriving and happy.

Australians born here. Another family of Builders, with their kids qualified in their early 20's, other families where their kids are studying medicine, health, teaching, forensics [mentioned the other night in a posting]: Australian born kids.

The majority of "our" Australian kids do not need to "lift their game".

We are U, perhaps it's the boys who I am thinking about, but if our kids want the top uni courses, they will have to do better. So many are not getting near their potential.

My eldset daughter, the least academically talented of my kids applied her self, & got an OP 2, & the chioce of courses.

The youngest opted for the easier subjects, but topped them, & got an OP 5, & went for an easy option at uni too. Slack, but smart.

My son, by far the most talented academically, did not work hard enough, got an OP 7, & missed out on selection for pilot training, because his physics marks were not good enough. He is doing great, & making more money than the other 2 combined, but did miss his first choice.

If our kids want to get into the top courses, many of them will have to work harder at school. It's a competitive world, when you start looking at uni entrance.

They do need better advice at school, too. I recently met a girl who wanted to be a physiotherapists. The school guidance people had got her a couple of weeks work experience in that department, at the local hospital. Great. What was not great was they had not told her she needed an OP 2 minimum to get into physio at uni. Even worse, they had not told her that with the subject mix she had taken in year 12 she had no chance of getting that OP