Education is the key to employment. Employment leads to a stable society because more people are satisfied with their living standards. Australia has among the highest employment rates in the world. Yet, the rate of depression is among the highest in the world. According to Beyond Blue, 'up to five percent of adolescents experience depression that is severe enough to warrant treatment, and around 20% of young people will have experienced significant depressive symptoms by the time they reach adulthood'. Isn't it ironic? Australia is among the best providers of tertiary education in the world, but yet there are many who feel that the don't have enough. This is because these people are not satisfied with what they have. When people have some, they want more. When they have more, they want even more. When they have so much, they want the most. Even when they have the most, they feel empty.
Most Australians are educated. However, one being educated does not necessarily make one a critical, independent thinker. It is up to the individual to develop one's own critical, independent thinking. One can still be educated, but ignorant. Many people are ignorant when it comes to understanding other cultures, beliefs and practices.
The slang term used to describe an uncultured person is 'bogan'. That such a term is part of the Australian vocabulary shows that people with no or little education and who do not understand the ways of society for a wide range of reasons, one of which is joblessness, are looked down upon. Society blames unemployed people for their plight. Just because people are jobless does not mean that they are lazy. In many cases, it is just that they had not be able to make the most of such opportunities.
Such terms are used by people to make themselves feel adequate or secure. If Australia is really a society that treats everyone as equals, we would not have such a rude term in our vocabulary.
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