Topic: An aging population will not drain Old Age Security.

The aging population is made up of two very important groups, which are Pre-

Boomers and Baby Boomers. Pre-Boomers were born just before the baby boom and this

represent the 55–64 year-old age group. Baby Boomers are those people born between

1946 and 1964. Both of these groups can be referred to as “Boomers.” According to

research Ageism is a social phenomenon, most entrenched in industrial and post-

industrial civilizations in North America.

Older people are faced with a variety of stereotypes. They are seen by many

people as being feeble in mind and body and as economic burdens on society, and they

are labeled with pejoratives such as “geezers” or “old fogies.” Even though the average

elders in North America of 76.5 years and those who reach the age of sixty-five can

expect to live another eighteen years. It is often believe that they have little to contribute

once they reach their sixties. Stereotype exists not just in North America, but in the other

nations as well. The attitudes towards the elderly were more positive, according to

research in the early seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the aging were highly

respected and venerated because they helped transmit wisdom and tradition to the

younger generations. They were given Puritan teachings, instructed the youth on how to

behave towards their elders because of that they received the best seats in church. One

reason why the aged garnered this respect was because there were few of them in colonial
society, only two percent of the population at the time was over sixty-five years old

according to social historian David Hackett Fisher.

Within the nineteenth century significantly changed were done in North American

society, ironically the elderly suffered as North America progressed. The rise of an urban

and industrialized nation meant that the aged were no longer useful with their skills and

education. Mandatory retirement laws were passed as the early as 1777 because the

younger, healthier workers were more desirable for factories. These laws forced the aging

to leave their jobs, leading to poverty. Many old aged homes were established for those

elderly who were poor and had no family to look after them. This can of homes further

isolated the elderly from society. The aged were no longer labeled and referred to terms

such as “codger” and “fuddy-duddy” began to take hold in the nineteenth century.

In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the negative attitudes toward the

elderly have continued to persist. The majority of elderly live alone, many were isolated

from their families. Frequently commercials and jokes rely on stereotypes of the elderly

belief that they are desperate to appear young and virile. Some people believe the Social

Security system allows seniors to drain money away from tax- paying workers. Age

discrimination often raises a barrier who wants to continue to work or return to the

workplace. In their book Ageism, the Aged and Aging in North America, Ursula A. Falk

and Gerhard Falk describe the elderly who are healthy and want to work but are made

irrelevant because of their aged.

In conclusion, an aging population will not drain old age security because

Canada's older generation has an obligation to ensure there are safeguards. We do not

want our younger and future generations to feel unfairly burdened by the actions that are
taken today. For instance in many cultures, aging are not universally negative experience

despite the devalued status of the elderly and their social life in society. The attitudes

towards the aging in society have been evolving. In the aging population, almost all older

men and women are productive, one-third work for pay or volunteers in churches,

hospitals, and other organizations.