Socio-political discussion: The Tall Poppy Syndrome -- FawnDoo's Cavalcade of Whimsy

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Date Posted: 02:05:31 01/17/04 Sat
Author: Goktimus Prime
Subject: Socio-political discussion: The Tall Poppy Syndrome

This is a discussion that some friends and I were having last night, mainly comparing sociopolitical issues between Australia and Japan. Anyway...

In Australia, there is a particular social syndrome known as "Tall Poppy." Basically, it means that Australian society in general, sees it fit to cut down exceptional individuals who strive to achieve beyond the norm.

Most of my friends are successful university students or graduates. Most of us were teased at school because we worked harder to try to achieve better marks, and regardless of whether those marks were achieved or not, the mere striving to better ourselves marked us for bullying and belittlement from classmates.

As a teacher, I see this social syndrome continue amongst Australian students today. Often I see otherwise very intelligent and capable students underachieve because they are socially conditioned to do so. To them, overachievement is "uncool" and would make them the source of ridicule. It's easier for them to achieve very ordinary (or poor) marks and keep their social network of peers, rather than work to their full potential and risk being ostracised.

This syndrome is called "Tall Poppy" because it refers to the population as being a field of poppies, and if one poppy rises above the rest, it gets cut down to make the rest of the field look good.

Statistically, only a minority of Australians actually complete a university degree. According to the ABS 2001 census statistics, only 26% of Australians hold a bachelor's degree with only 5% holding a post-graduate diploma.

This is obviously done, as the tall poppy analogy illustrates, as a way of people trying to maintain a status quo... but in a very negative way. This contrasts greatly with other countries, particularly Asian nations such as Japan and Singapore, where the status quo is maintained by society placing immense pressure on people to achieve and succeed. Whereas Australian society would maintain the status quo by pulling people down, Japanese and Singaporean societies do so by pulling people up. It's little wonder that such nations boast extremely high rates of literacy and numeracy in the world.

So my question to the rest of you is this - how does it work in your country?

Is there an overall need for your society to maintain some kind of status quo? If so, how is it done? Is there a social expectation for people to underachieve, and to cut down those who strive to rise above the field, or does your society praise and encourage everyone to succeed?

Have you ever experienced Tall Poppy Syndrome? Were you the nerd being picked on, or perhaps you were the jock who felt threatened by the achievement of a nerd and wanted to cut him/her down.

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Replies:

Hard America vs Soft America -- Perceptor II, 18:09:42 01/23/04 Fri
- Not an especially charming picture...... -- FawnDoo, 16:40:18 02/07/04 Sat
  - It's not Victorian -- Perceptor II, 20:41:36 02/10/04 Tue
Oh, I have experienced this...... -- FawnDoo, 16:25:04 02/07/04 Sat