Reading and All That Jazz 5th Edition by Rita McCarthy ,Peter Mather

Exercise 2

Changing the Public's View on Aging
Aging people may be one of our least used and least appreciated resources. How can we use the knowledge and productivity of our growing numbers of older citizens, particularly those now leaving the work force through mandatory early retirement First, we must change our thinking about what aging means. We must learn to judge productivity rather than age. Capacity to function should replace age as a criterion for usefulness. Instead of singling out 65 as a magic number, we could consider ages 50-75 as the third quarter of life. Changes occur around 50 that signal a new era: children are usually grown and gone; a person has often achieved a level in career, earnings, and accomplishments that meets his or her ambitions. The upper end of the quarter is determined by the fact that most people today are vigorous, in good health, mentally alert, and capable of making a productive contribution until they are at least in their seventies. However we define old age, the costs of losing what these people can contribute to our national productivity and quality of life are too high.
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Bias: _____________________________________________________________
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