‘We are all Asian here’ : multiculturalism, selective schooling and responses to Asian success

Despite what seems like the embrace of all things ‘Asian’ such as the inclusion of a cross-curricular focus on Asia in Australia’s National Curriculum and the call for Australians to become ‘Asia literate’ (MCEETYA 2008), many Australians harbour a deep suspicion of Asia. This is especially evident in the concern over the phenomenal performance of many students of Asian backgrounds in Australian schools. With recent research around multiculturalism as a backdrop, this article examines how students, parents and teachers in one Australian selective high school negotiate the phenomenon of ‘Asian success’. Such schools are very often the object of media attention with the increasing number of Asian students seen to be displacing those of Anglo-Australian background and academic enquiry generally focusing on their role within neoliberal agendas of school choice. Little research exists, however, on relations within these schools; how students of Asian backgrounds respond to criticisms of Asian success and the reactions of the Anglo majority to their more recent ‘minority’ status. Together with examining how various members of this one school community have responded to these changing demographics, the article considers how understandings of multiculturalism frame these debates and how ‘Asian success’ has become a transnational phenomenon.