Ageism Article

Many practices portraying the elderly as unworthy and unintelligent have become common among the younger population, resulting in ageism. In today’s cartoons, for example, many older people are depicted as being less intelligent than the young. Similarly, many institutions’ retirement plans show that older people are less suitable for any job market and must be replaced by young employees. Finally, it is common for nurses in public places such as hospitals to comment on the elderly’s memory loss. All of these behaviors are signs of ageism, which society should avoid and view in the same light as the young. The cartoons today portray the old as of less intelligence compared to adults (Hagestad & Uhlenberg, 2005). It is true that most adults at such age spent their early life when significant technological advancement the society enjoys today were in no existence. The modern world enjoys several technologies such as the computers, smart phones, and iPad. These gadgets have emerged due to the massive improvement in science that the world witnessed in the past decades. The young generation, on the contrary, finds it easy to use such industrial material as they have come in their generation. The fact that older generations of a society finds it difficult to use the modern technology does not imply they are less intelligent, but should be an indication that they had gotten used to other means to an extent that the advancement seem alien. Therefore, society needs to respect the older people and stop viewing their age difference as way of segregating of their intelligence.

Retirement and pension plans characterize the current job market with the young working to save for their future expenses. Since society regards the old to deliver poorly in their areas of speciation, the young generation as expected moves in to offer better delivery than the old (Dennis & Thomas, 2007). There are several retirement plans designed for the old people so that they would leave their employment positions and take leave from active service while feeding on pensions and their retirement benefits. However, the society needs to consider the vast knowledge and experience that would go to waste when the old retire. The older employees offer more robust services in the job industry due to their experience and expertise in the field. The society should, therefore, shun the notion that delivery in the job market reduces with age. Besides, the young generation comes into the area fresh from the colleges with no adequate experiences. To phase out such generations, it remains prudent for institutions to incorporate the aged so as to preserve institutional memory. Further, the young generations only use the first employment opportunities as stepping stone to higher positions and would not offer a permanent replacement to the retirees.

Most of the young officers in public offices regard the old to be deficient in knowledge. It is currently common practice to find officers such as nurses seek personal information of the old from their young relatives who accompany them to such places (Kagan & Torres, 2015). Besides, when nurses find elderly patients walking in corridors of hospitals, they are likely to ask them if they have missed their direction as opposed to how the same nurses would treat younger patients. It is necessary if the old would receive similar treatment as other members of the society and get consulted first about their personal information rather than disregarding them as less knowledgeable and out of memory.

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Dennis, H., & Thomas, K. (2007). Ageism in the workplace. Generations, 31(1), 84-89.

Hagestad, G. O., & Uhlenberg, P. (2005). The social separation of old and young: A root of ageism. Journal of social issues, 61(2), 343-360.

Kagan, S. H., & Melendez‐Torres, G. J. (2015). Ageism in nursing. Journal of nursing management, 23(5), 644-650.