In this paper, the authors identify various educational paths involving school and post-school study and assess the effectivness of these in relation to post-school outcomes at age 25 years. They use the 1995 cohort of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth and find that, for males, undertaking an apprenticeship after completing senior secondary and university are attractive paths. For females, the best path is that of university study, even for those with low academic orientation.
This study, which defines the lowering of educational or occupational ambitions by high school students as 'lost talent', looks at the extent to which talent loss occurs among high achieving students and the consequences of this on later occupational attainments.