The paper presents this dynamic as a ‘structured dilemma’ (Hollinger, 2000) that, having been imagined into being on the basis of administrative and policy action, is somewhat amenable to policy resolution. Policy changes may lead to greater success in education by accepting the example provided by a number of individuals who successfully negotiate the notional dichotomies in the everyday to achieve standard outcomes and retain acceptance as Aboriginal. In the contemporary everyday, culture is less static than processual. It is laden with power that is less monolithic and downwardly oppressive than capillary and reversible. And identity is less unitary than multiple, contingent and fluid, culture is ‘changing-same’ (Gilroy, 1991) and Aborigines are simultaneously different from and similar to other Aborigines and other Australians.