We learn by study, observation and experience.
Most of us do our intensive studies at school, TAFE and university and hopefully enter the workforce with an education and good technical skills.
Why then aren’t 20 year olds with the latest knowledge put in charge of running organisations?
I would suggest that lack of life skills and experience is the major reason.
One of the benefits of living into our 50s, 60s & 70s is that we have the time to gain valuable experience and hopefully some wisdom as well.
If experience is valued in businesses and government departments, why is it suddenly less valuable when workers reach their 60s and face widespread age discrimination in the workforce?
The myth that people in their 60s and 70s are “past it” are still hanging around and doing immense harm to our society and economy. The majority of workers today are sitting in front of computer screens, not doing hard physical work that wears out bodies. While older workers are often a bit slower than Gen Ys, they make up for that with experience and knowledge.
If we are going to be retired for 20 – 30 years, it’s going to cost a lot of money and most people retiring today don’t have enough in their superannuation. The obvious solution, which the Government has accepted, is that we are going to have to work longer.
It’s well past time that our society realised that experience takes time to accumulate and older people are really trading youth and beauty for experience and wisdom.
We need a new 21st Century term to describe older people who are not “past it” or “seniors” or any of the other patronising terms used by our youth obsessed culture to describe people over 60.
“Super Adults” is a far more realistic description for experienced people who are alive and kicking and still have a positive contribution to make to society.
Today’s “Super Adults” are the generation that changed the world in the 1960s and 70s. Surely it’s time to replace last century’s dismissive terms for them with a more appropriate description.
What do you think?
We have published 4 books about a range of issues around retirement. You can find out more about these books on this web site