Education of the Aged

Abstract

THE ECONOMIC, urban, and technological development of the United States during this century has been accompanied by marked shifts in age composition of the population. Taeuber and Taeuber (33) reported that between 1900 and 1955 the older adult represented the most rapidly increasing age group in our population. However, projections for the 1955 to 1975 period reported by Taeuber (32) and the U. S. Bureau of the Census (36) indicated a tapering off of this increase. Growth rate of the age group 65 years old and older will level off; the 45-64 age group will remain unchanged in proportion; the 25-44 age group will proportionately decrease; and the under-25 age group will represent the fastest growing segment of our population. Although aging trends as represented by the increasing proportion of adults (20 years old and older) to pre-adults in our society will be halted and actually reversed during these years, labor force projections (36) show that the increase in average age of the adult group itself will continue. The age group 45 years old and older, which increased from 30 percent of the adult population in 1900 to 43 percent in 1950, is expected to rise to 47 percent by 1975. The group 65 years old and older, which increased from 7 percent in 1900 to 12 percent in 1950, is expected to reach 15 percent by 1975. Changes in age composition of the adult population are significant to the adult educator to the extent that content, techniques, or objectives of programing are affected, as they must be if increasing age produces change in learning ability.