Description

This book is teaching by example. The Programme of ‘respecting adults’ was developed at the Andrus Gerontology Centre at the University of Southern California. It offers lesson plans and exercises to prepare for the encounter between the young and their elders. The process is a group format meeting where questions are asked and answered from both sides, and ideas exchanged about ageing and the young’s perception of ageing. The instructions in this book prepare adults for the difficult and emotional moments they will face in the exchange with young people. Ageism, a form of bigotry directed against the elderly, is alive and well in America. This thinking begins in childhood and education about adults and ageing needs to begin to supplant the bigotry. As a society, we have worked to understanding minorities, now it is time to consider the largest minority – the elderly (which may be 30+ for a child).