AGING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Abstract

Aging education is an important step in facilitating individual growth and development. Children are isolated from older people and are less likely to have an accurate perception of old age. A possible solution is the integration of aging curricula into the schools. To assess how extensively aging is taught within the schools, a questionnaire was mailed to a randomly selected sample of personnel in Ohio public schools. The replies of 204 respondents (48% return) were compiled and tabulated. Findings indicate that: (1) aging is more often taught in secondary than elementary schools; (2) respondents feel the major reasons why aging is not taught more often is because aging is a nontraditional topic and there are inadequate materials and resources; (3) few of those who have offered aging in their school feel the efforts were unsuccessful; and (4) approximately equivalent numbers of respondents feel there are teachers in their school interested in teaching aging as those who feel no teachers are interested.