Final Summary/ Reaction

After seeing the results of my research, I found that most people have been discriminated against because of their age at one time or another. As I had predicted teenager and elderly adults were the most discriminated against. The middle aged adults weren't as affected. Many of the teenagers who took the survey also discriminated against other age groups. After this semester I have become more aware of the negative effects of ageism. I have learned a lot about the different aspects of ageism.

Plan Update

After posting my survey for the young adults group on my Facebook, I received many responses. I was surprised by the incite that many of the people had. Most of the people are meeting my hypothesis. I will hopefully get my results for the middle-aged adults soon, and after that the elderly group. I think the teenage group met my hypothesis because I had a minor bias that turned out to be correct. I have experienced the negative effects of  ageism and I know many friends my age who have also. I am curious to see how the middle-aged adults will answer the survey.

Strategy/Plan for Research

For my final research project, I plan on giving a survey to about 30 people. I will split the results into two groups, 10 people from the ages of 14-25, 10 people aged 26-64, and 10 people aged 65+. I will be asking about 20 questions using a Google doc and a printed copy, whichever would be easiest for the person. I will be asking everyone the same questions so I will try to make it possible for every age group to relate to the question. The survey will consist of a broad array of questions about ageism. I will try to find out how people in each age group are personally affected by ageism and how many are actually a little ageist themselves. My hypothesis is that teenagers and elderly adults will be more affected by ageism than middle-aged adults. I also think that all three groups will be somewhat equally ageist towards each other. (For example, teens will stereotype the elderly, the elderly will stereotype teens, and middle-aged adults will stereotype both teens and the elderly.)

Suggested Research Method/Why

For my semester 2 project, I am going to hand out a questionnaire to a group of teenagers, middle-aged adults, and adults over the age of 65. I am going to ask them a number of true/false question, multiple choice, and free response questions. Some of the questions I have thought of so far are: "Do you feel like you have ever been treated wrongly because of your age, how?" "What do you think the best age is?" "How do you feel about the age you are now?" 

#8 Final Blog Post

This project has broadened my view on Ageism. Before this project, I didn't really know what ageism was. I knew that age discrimination happened but I didn't know that it had a name or that it was so prominent in our society. Ageism is something that everyone should be aware of because it can affect everyone. It is disturbing to think of all the ways elderly people are discriminated against because of their age. I also learned that ageism affects not only the elderly, but also young adults. People have to realize that everyone, no matter their age, deserves respect and opportunities to do what they love. 

#7 How Ageism Affects Teenagers

This article has great points on how ageism effects the young as well as the old. When most people think of ageism they think of how it affects the elderly. But ageism actually affects people of all ages. People forget that in order to fight ageism we have to fight it from every angle. Ageism is something that everyone can relate to. We have all been told that we were too young for something at one point in our lives. Ageism against young people can also mean people stereotyping them. Many older people think that teenagers are all lazy, entitled, reckless and not respectful. Although some young people are like this, the majority of teenagers aren't. The picture below is a poster that was in a convenience store. This poster demonstrates the stereotype that all teenagers are bad kids that are going to egg houses on Halloween. This isn't true. What if they just wanted to make a cake? This stereotype makes teenagers feel like adults don't appreciate them and think poorly of them.

In order to stop ageism, people have to realize that everyone is important and should be valued, no matter what age they are. People have to understand that one day, you will be old too and it's important to show respect for the elderly because the way you treat them is how you will be treated one day. People also have to realize that they were all young once. Older people tend to forget what it was like being younger. They think that they were perfect and did nothing wrong. People should give teenagers the respect that everyone deserves.  Instead of making a snap judgement, people of every age need to take time to get to know someone.

"Ageism against any age group will never truly be defeated, unless we simultaneously deal with how it affects young and old alike."

Article Link

#6 Ageism in BBC (Article)

Hugh Porter is a cycling legend who has won multiple gold metals for Great Britain in various Olympic games. After his cycling career, Porter worked for BBC as a commentator for the Olympic games. His 30 year career was ended last spring at the age of 73 because they wanted to replace him with someone younger. Porter was devastated by this decision because he still loves that sport and was hoping to commentate for the Olympic games in Rio. He doesn't think that he's too old for the job and believes that his voice is still strong. He said that if he thought he was too old he would be the first one to say something. What really annoyed Porter was that BBC made it seem like he stepped down from the job. He wants people to know that it was BBC's decision, not his. This isn't the first controversy on how BBC treats their older presenters. Miriam O'Reilly and Anna Ford have both recently accused BBC of firing them and other coworkers solely on the fact that they were too old.

Porter was BBC's main commentator for cycling since 1984. I think that it was wrong to take away Hugh's job, especially because he loved it so much. He dedicated his whole life to the Olympics and to have it end this way isn't fair. I feel especially bad that BBC made it seem like he was the one who decided to stop commentating. Hugh was planning on commentating for as long as he could and definitely shouldn't have been fired. He was planing on going to the games in Rio at the age of 77 and commentating for cycling there. This kind of relates to my previous post on women in movies and television being fired for being too old and not pretty anymore. I think that the same outlook applies here. If Porter is willing to work and his voice is strong, he should be allowed to do the job that he loves.

 ARTICLE