The Harm in Age Segregation

       Upon a visit to a geriatric center, my hospital guide brought up the interesting and controversial topic of age segregation. She told us how it was difficult for the older patients to stay active and healthy in an environment of other elderly people. The guide discussed how beneficial it is for the elderly to have exposure to younger people, for they keep the elderly mentally stimulated. Younger people generally lead active lifestyles and this rubs off on the elderly. Along with new generations of children comes new technology, and these kind of changes can be intimidating, but learning new things and adapting is actually one of the best things an older person can do for their health. Knowing the importance of mixing ages, then why is age segregation found in many aspects of American life?

I believe that the very American theme of finding maximum efficient is the motivation behind separating age groups in our society. Schools are separated by age, not necessarily learning ability. I think that this is because it is seen as most efficient to start with a young group of children and teach them all the same thing together and continue on from grade to grade teaching the same material to the masses of children. This tends to lead children to befriending other children of the same age, and therefore limiting their adult exposure to parents and teachers. In geriatric care or nursing homes, it is seen as most efficient to group all the elderly in one area, for they may have similar health problems. Therefore treatment can be given all in one place to the masses of the elderly, which increases efficiency.

Through this process of finding efficiency, the individual is categorized by age, placed into a mass of others in that category, and that group is then treated as one. This search for efficiency is stripping people of their individuality. In the process, the complexity of a human being is reduced to one number, all else ignored. Although this system is beneficial for the organizers of society, it can be stifling for the individual.