In this issue:
Doing Better for Young People;
Adolescent Angst and the Search for Transcendence;
A Focus on Youth is Key to Tackling Homelessness
Doing Better for Young People
There are varying perceptions of the situation of young people in contemporary society. Significantly, the perceptions of young people often differ from those of adults but are not always included in debates about the issues. In this article, Elizabeth Fraser argues for the importance of including young people in the discussion and being clear about the facts that are available.
Suicidal Behaviour in Youth
Suicide in young people represents one of the most tragic of all societal concerns. It is not only a dreadful cutting short of life, but also a terrible misfortune for affected parents, siblings, friends, and communities. In this article, Jacinta Hawgood outlines what we know about the vulnerability of young people to suicidal behaviour and what we can do as a society to prevent it.
Adolescent Angst and the Search for Transcendence
Satisfying the universal need for transcendence appears to be more challenging now than it has been in times past. Adolescents are particularly affected, as they struggle to establish an independent way of being in the world. Here, Maggie Dent considers why questions of being and identity have become harder for today’s young people, and how adults could provide a lending hand.
A Focus on Youth is Key to Tackling Homelessness
Tackling youth homelessness is critical to meeting the commitments made by the federal and state governments under the national homelessness strategy, writes Elizabeth Cullen.
Elizabeth Cullen makes the comment…. “Focus on youth is the key to tackling homelessness”. I believe this is only partly true. One of the key predictors of crime rates is the literacy rate in the adult male population. The highest crime rates are often in areas where adult literacy levels do not meet Grade Three standards. In fact, some US Governors have used this statistic as a way to predict where new prisons should be located. Heather Ridout, CEO of the Australian Industry Group, estimates that four million workers out of the total 11 million Australians in the workforce are “functionally illiterate”. That means they are unlikely to be able to learn new skills and cannot be employed except in the most unskilled positions. Ridout went on to comment on the ABC’s Q&A recently that there were an estimated seven million “functionally illiterate” folk in the Australian adult population. This is the group that makes up a large portion of the unemployed or under-employed or unemployable portion of the population and this is where so many of the homeless come from.
The focus therefore should be on ensuring that literacy levels are maintained in our schools. There is lots of research that shows that once people fall behind, they never catch up. If literacy levels are maintained, then the social issues of youth that Elizabeth Cullen writes about will be greatly reduced. If folk reach their youth and are functionally illiterate, sadly they are probably doomed for life.