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Ageism is used to acknowledge both youth & elder oppression.
Both  are socially constructed; society deems the expectations, roles, and behaviors. "Both young and elders have internalized the belief that decisions regarding their lives are appropriately made by members of the dominant group (middle-aged adults)" (Dejong and Love 548).

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My Understanding of Youth & Elder Oppression 

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My Understanding of Youth & Elder Oppression 

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Poem: Then & Now
I was quiet and told what to do.
I followed the rules
and kept my mouth glued.
I am older now and I see
that too many people
were making choices for me.
I decided to be a teacher,
not a preacher.
I want my students to learn
that they are able and free
to think for themselves
in this society.
They will get older
and hopefully bolder
and will shine a light for the youth.
Then, with time,
ageism will decline and liberation becomes the truth.
- Nancy Torres

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Voices  included in this chapter are both youth and elder Native Americans and elder people of color. Additional voices include every human being on this planet beginning from a baby (starting point in Harro's Cycle of Socialization) until our time on the planet has ended. Here is a place you can include YOUR VOICE...

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Solutions to ageism and adultism: Take part in organizations that target change at the federal, state, and local levels. Become an ally to both the youth and the elder. Acknowledge your own prejudices and stereotypes in order to bring about change.

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Olympic swimmer Dara Torres made headlines when, at age 41, she won a spot on the U.S. Olympic swim team for the 2008 Beijing games and became a five-time Olympian.

Most of us wouldn't consider a woman of 41 to be old, but having beaten a 25-year-old to land a spot on the team, Torres challenged stereotypes about aging and showed that people of all ages are capable of making great strides. Like Torres, many other Americans are striving for success in mid-life and beyond, but they find themselves regularly struggling with varying degrees of ageism.

What Is Ageism?

The term was coined in 1968 by Robert N. Butler, MD, a gerontologist, psychiatrist, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, and it refers to a basic denial of older people's human rights. Though it has been against the law to discriminate against older people in the workplace since 1967, when Congress passed the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, it still happens frequently, says Ursula Staudinger, PhD, founding director of the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center at Columbia University in New York City.

Ageism in the Workplace

Dallas resident Alex Kaplinsky was confident he would be hired for a sales job after a headhunter approached him. He was 67 at the time. "The telephone interviews went well, and they seemed to be thrilled to have me," he says. But, the atmosphere turned from "excited to cold," he recalls, when he flew to New Jersey for a final interview and the hiring manager saw his gray hair. Kaplinsky was 67 at the time.

When Kaplinsky returned home, he was offered a part-time job with the company; not the high-dollar sales position he'd interviewed for.

His experience is common to many older Americans - and "older" can be as young as 45 or 50, Dr. Staudinger says. "Older people are passed over for jobs despite their experience and qualifications. Also, their bosses assume they're not open to change and don't include them in new projects or assignments," she says.

Ageism Where You Least Expect It

While workplace ageism may be the most blatant form, older Americans also encounter ageism in public settings, and even in their own families. For example, when older people shop, Staudinger says, sales clerks often assume they have all the time in the world and ignore them in favor of younger customers. And they may even face this discrimination in their own families.

Staudinger points out that grandchildren can assume their grandparents couldn't possibly understand what's going on in their world, and may keep their conversations superficial, thinking it would be too hard to discuss details or explain the latest technology they're using to the "old folks," she says. Families may also underestimate their elders' ability to live on their own and remain independent. "They put pressure on them to move to an apartment or assisted living," Staudinger says.
Related: 3 Science-Based Secrets to a Youthful Brain
Even doctors can be guilty of holding these attitudes. When Audrey Chun, MD, was training to become a geriatrician, most of her older patients were hard of hearing, so she assumed they all were. But one patient who wasn't became insulted when she raised her voice to him. "He said, 'You don't have to yell at me; I can hear you just fine,'" she recalls. It was an important lesson to learn, says Dr. Chun, now an associate professor of geriatrics and palliative medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

Many people talk to the elderly like they are children - slow, loud, and deliberate. That can be disheartening and make them feel sad, says Gregory A. Hinrichsen, PhD, an assistant clinical professor of geriatrics and palliative medicine with a specialty in geriatric psychiatry at Mount Sinai.

Overcoming Ageism

There is no reason to experience discrimination as you get older. With some effort, you can overcome ageism. The following suggestions may help.

1. Speak up. Don't let yourself be pushed around because you're older, Staudinger says. At family gatherings where there are people of all ages, you might be tempted to sit on the sidelines and watch, but make an attempt to participate.

2. Engage in the world. People who stay active - mentally and physically - can overcome ageism more easily, Dr. Hinrichsen says. Follow the news. Live in the present, and look to the future. Show your children and grandchildren that you're aware of what's going on around you. Use email and social media if you feel comfortable - it can show your grandchildren you can communicate like they do.

3. Be positive. Attitude has a lot to do with how people can overcome ageism, Hinrichsen says. Relish the experience and wisdom that come with age and put them to good use.

4. Be as independent as you can. "There's a concept of learned helplessness," Chun says. "If you assume that because you're a certain age, you're unable to do certain things, you won't be able to do them. You won't lose those abilities if you continue to do for yourself what you can." Go shopping. Do your own banking. Eat out in restaurants.

5. Surround yourself with younger people. Taking a class at the gym or the community college with younger people will help fight ageism, Chun says. "There's also that energy that comes from being with people who are younger to motivate you to push yourself," she adds.

6. Volunteer. Join in activities at your church keeps Mattie Woodson, 94, of Seattle, interested in life, she says. Same for Margaret Hardin, 101, who also lives in Seattle. "Making blankets for Childhaven [an organization serving abused and neglected children] and sewing the labels keeps me young," says Hardin.

7. Exercise. Woodson enjoys Pilates. It's another way she stays young, she says.

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Olympic swimmer Dara Torres made headlines when, at age 41, she won a spot on the U.S. Olympic swim team for the 2008 Beijing games and became a five-time Olympian.

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Subjectivity regarding students plays a role in the school-to-prison pipeline. If teachers are unaware of their biases, students of color may be sent to the office more often. Male students may be placed more often in an intervention setting vs. females. Students are constantly in fear of getting into trouble or vise-versa, become frustrated with the unfairness and act out. Thus, if a school has a zero tolerance policy then "schools have been become increasingly intolerant of young people..." (Giroux 559).

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In Meridian, Miss., police routinely arrest and transport youths to a juvenile detention center for minor classroom misbehaviors. In Jefferson Parish, La., according to a U.S. Department of Justice complaint, school officials have given armed police "unfettered authority to stop, frisk, detain, question, search and arrest schoolchildren on and off school grounds." In Birmingham, Ala., police officers are permanently stationed in nearly every high school.

In fact, hundreds of school districts across the country employ discipline policies that push students out of the classroom and into the criminal justice system at alarming rates-a phenomenon known as the school-to-prison pipeline.

Last month, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., held the first federal hearing on the school-to-prison pipeline-an important step toward ending policies that favor incarceration over education and disproportionately push minority students and students with disabilities out of schools and into jails.

In opening the hearing, Durbin told the subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, "For many young people, our schools are increasingly a gateway to the criminal justice system. This phenomenon is a consequence of a culture of zero tolerance that is widespread in our schools and is depriving many children of their fundamental right to an education."

A wide array of organizations-including the Southern Poverty Law Center, the NAACP and Dignity in Schools-offered testimony during the hearing. They joined representatives from the Departments of Education and Justice to shine a national spotlight on a situation viewed far too often as a local responsibility.

"We have a national problem that deserves federal action," Matthew Cregor, an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, explained. "With suspension a top predictor of dropout, we must confront this practice if we are ever to end the 'dropout crisis' or the so-called achievement gap." In the words of Vermont's Sen. Patrick Leahy, "As a nation, we can do better."

What is the School-to-Prison Pipeline?

Policies that encourage police presence at schools, harsh tactics including physical restraint, and automatic punishments that result in suspensions and out-of-class time are huge contributors to the pipeline, but the problem is more complex than that.

The school-to-prison pipeline starts (or is best avoided) in the classroom. When combined with zero-tolerance policies, a teacher's decision to refer students for punishment can mean they are pushed out of the classroom-and much more likely to be introduced into the criminal justice system.

Who's in the Pipeline?

Students from two groups-racial minorities and children with disabilities-are disproportionately represented in the school-to-prison pipeline. African-American students, for instance, are 3.5 times more likely than their white classmates to be suspended or expelled, according to a nationwide study by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.

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In Meridian, Miss., police routinely arrest and transport youths to a juvenile detention center for minor classroom misbehaviors. In Jefferson Parish, La., according to a U.S. Department of Justice complaint, school officials have given armed police "unfettered authority to stop, frisk, detain, question, search and arrest schoolchildren on and off school grounds."

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A term used as a way of speaking to older adults which can be disrespectful and demeaning. As a teacher, the language and tone I use in class and towards students can create this same feeling. Students may not want to talk to me or in front of the class. They may refuse to complete any work.

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Advice

iStock

Walking past an open classroom door, I often find myself astonished to hear the professor speaking to college students as if they were third graders. It's not my place to criticize someone else's teaching without sitting in on their class properly. But whenever I overhear a faculty member talking down to students, I wonder: Why do you do that? What do you gain from treating your students as antagonists, employees, or children? Do you really think that tone makes students want to come to your class?

Similarly, when supervising new graduate-student instructors, I often have to convince these rookie teachers that their syllabus does not need to contain a litany of rules and regulations, threatening punishment for bad behavior at every turn. "Your position automatically gives you authority in the classroom," I tell them. "You don't need to go out of your way assert it with your words."

Tone matters when you communicate with students. It's one of the most important ways you can influence your students' learning environment.

Since August, I've been writing about motivation - specifically, the three variables that most contribute to student motivation, as laid out in How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Learning, a 2010 book written by current and former staff members of Carnegie Mellon University's teaching center. Their argument: If you want students to be motivated to learn in your classroom, they need to value the goals you set for them, believe that accomplishing those goals is possible, and feel supported along the way. Having covered the first two, I'll focus here on that last element - whether the learning environment in your classroom is supportive.

It's easy to grasp why learning environment would affect student motivation. If the projects you are asking students to complete are difficult (as they should be), if success is not guaranteed (as it shouldn't be), then the kind of support students will receive along the way becomes a pressing issue. The less supported they feel, the less motivated they will be in pursuit of a course goal. How Learning Works offers a raft of research to show that whether or not students feel included in your course is a prominent indicator of their likelihood of success.

So what can you do to help students feel supported in your classroom?

Change your tone. Like it or not, the way you communicate with students speaks volumes about how you see them and sends a message about their place in the course. Treat students like children and you're telling them you expect them to act like children. You might as well just say: "I don't expect you to take full responsibility for this course or its goals."

How you talk to students during class and office hours, how you call on them to contribute, how you address them in writing on assignment and homework prompts - all of those are opportunities to let students know that they own the course and the institution as much as you do. The more secure they feel in that ownership, the more motivated they will be to work hard.

One indicator of a supportive environment is the degree to which students feel comfortable coming to you for help. Even the tone and phrasing of your syllabus policies can make a difference. According to not-very-surprising research cited in How Learning Works, "Students are less likely to seek help from the instructor who worded those policies in punitive language than from the instructor who worded the same policies in rewarding language." Hand out a strict, punitive-sounding syllabus and you reveal from the get-go how approachable you are (not very) and how much they can trust you to help when they need it (not much).

Go out of your way, particularly early in the semester, to set the right tone:

Reassure students that it's OK if they don't understand everything at first.

When they express uncertainty in class, make sure you respond in a way that encourages others to feel comfortable expressing their uncertainty as well.

Explicitly remind students of your office hours. Keep encouraging them to come to you for extra help. Don't expect them to automatically take advantage of opportunities for support.

Create an environment that helps students get to know one another. Research has shown that student participation in class is influenced more by peers than by the instructor's interpersonal style. That is: Whether your students participate in class is affected less by their perception of you and more by their perception that other students in the room are welcoming, encouraging, and attentive. They clam up if they are worried about how their peers will react.

But just because students attribute their own sense of comfort to their peers' behavior doesn't mean the instructor is irrelevant. For one, students may not always know exactly why they feel more comfortable in one class rather than another. More important, instructors have a big role to play in shaping the environment of the classroom. You help create the conditions in which students feel welcomed and respected, whether they realize you're behind it or not.

Here are ways to create that environment:

Set aside time for activities that help students get to know one another and bring their lives into the classroom. For example, instead of just taking attendance in the usual way, do a question roll: Ask students to answer an informal question at the beginning of class after you call out their names. It's an easy way to help everyone feel more comfortable with each other, and with you.

Look for ways to connect course material with students' lives, so that they might discuss their experiences and grow closer as a community. Giving that community a chance to develop can be a huge help in your efforts to motivate students.

Sometimes the best teaching strategy is to get out of the way and let your students get to know each other, see what's valuable in one another, and start trusting each other.

Practice inclusive teaching. To me, inclusive teaching is an approach that seeks both to treat students equally and to recognize the inequalities of the world. If you are serious about creating a welcoming environment that helps every student be motivated to learn, you need to open your eyes to how your usual way of doing things may be making some students feel less than supported.

Everyone has implicit biases. Combating them is difficult precisely because they are implicit - but it's not impossible. A good place to start: On your syllabus, spell out your policies about the importance of mutual respect and tolerance in the classroom. Even better, make sure your course includes (and centers) identities other than your own. As How Learning Works notes, course content - including not just readings but also "the examples and metaphors instructors use in class and the case studies and project topics we let our students choose" - is important because it sends "messages about the field and who belongs in it."

Even if you're not swayed by the social-justice argument for inclusive teaching, the pedagogical argument is pretty strong, too. You are helping your students develop into capable and responsible citizens. Take each of them seriously and work to make sure your classroom environment is designed with all of them in mind. As the research shows, when students feel they belong in your classroom, they are more likely to be motivated to work hard, and more likely to learn.

The environment within your classroom is not completely under your control as the instructor. But there's enough you can influence to make thinking about course climate a worthy pursuit.

David Gooblar is a lecturer in the rhetoric department at the University of Iowa. He writes a column on teaching for The Chronicle and runs Pedagogy Unbound, a website for college instructors who share teaching strategies. To find more advice on teaching, browse his previous columns .

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When You Communicate With Students, Tone Matters

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Advice Walking past an open classroom door, I often find myself astonished to hear the professor speaking to college students as if they were third graders. It's not my place to criticize someone else's teaching without sitting in on their class properly.