TEACHING GERONTOLOGY Sept. 27, 2002 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx In this issue: - Web Site on Great Debates - Paying for Long-term Care - Distance Learning - TV Special on Caregiving - Just for Laughs - Post-modernism and Aging - Comparative Gerontology Quiz xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx WEB SITE ON "GREAT DEBATES" There's a website that provides annotated links for "Great Debates" in gerontology, based on the textbook AGING: CONCEPTS & CONTROVERSIES. The website has NOW been completely revamped and updated. It includes websites and Internet sources on both sides of critical "Great Debates" such as the following: - Should we ration health care for older people? - Is retirement obsolete? - Should age or need be a basis for entitlement? - What is the future of Social Security? Visit the site at: http://www.pineforge.com/moody/ ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------ PAYING FOR LONG-TERM CARE Who will pay for long-term care costs? That's a question that American public policy has struggled with for a generation but hasn't reached a clear consensus. But what if there were "waste, fraud, and abuse" in the long-term care industry that could be cut right now? For a provocative argument on that subject, look at the just-published article "The New Math of Old Age: Why the Nursing Home Industry's Cries of Poverty Don't Add Up." A U.S. News and World Report Investigative Report in "Health & Medicine" (9/30/02). Read the full report at: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/nycu/health/articles/020930/30home s.htm ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------ DISTANCE LEARNING The Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Networked Learning are available online. This event took place in March, 2002 in Britain and the proceedings will be of interest to those concerned about distance learning in gerontology education. To read proceedings, visit: http://www.shef.ac.uk/nlc2002/proceedings/index.htm ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------ TV SPECIAL ON CAREGIVING In October TV viewers can see a new 2-hour PBS special "And Thou Shalt Honor... Caring for Our Aging Parents, Spouses and Friends," created by Wiland-Bell Productions. This historic, first of its kind documentary on caregiving will premiere nationally on PBS on October 9th at 9PM (check local listings for exact time). Chronicling tales of volunteer and paid family caregiving across the nation, and hosted by actor Joe Mantegna, the show is supplemented by a national outreach program and a comprehensive website at http://www.thoushalthonor.org ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------ JUST FOR LAUGHS George W. Bush once protested that "they mis-underestimated me." Which reminds me of the time a student in my college religion class asked me "Professor Moody, what is this 'Last Dinner' you keep mentioning?" (Yes, this actually took place: whatever happened to "cultural literacy?") In the same spirit, we here reprint from Professor Bob Terry, a modest collection of items drawn from student papers over the years. Experienced professors will recognize the "ring of truth" in these examples. (Maybe we should put the label 'sic' after each one?) "I learned a more better way to study." "Don't throw the baby out with the dishwasher." "History is full of events." "People are born with little knowledge of the world surrounding them." [Even going to college might not change that...] "The Dessert Storm War" (hope the entree wasn't dangerous) "We should not do anything to devalue human life from contraception to natural death." "No person is alike, and similarly no view is identical." "When Copernicus reinforced Galileo's statement of a Helio- Centric Universe..." [Well, what's a century or two between friends?] "Louis Armstrong was the first person to walk on the moon." [Did he take his trumpet along?] "The period in America known as the Rolling 20's was before WWI." [Maybe that's why I don't remember it] "A sight for sour eyes." "After his suicide Hitler was a failure." "You will rape as you sew." ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------ POST-MODERNISM AND AGING In my teaching I have been using the book CULTURES OF AGING by Christopher Gilleard and Paul Higgs (Pearson, 2000). It interprets aging in terms of "post-modernist" theory. It views culture construction in post-industrial capitalist economies in terms of consumership patterns (what people buy and spend money on). I have used (and am using) Gilleard and Higgs as a supplement to AGING: CONCEPTS & CONTROVERSIES in my "Introduction to Social Gerontology" course. It is a dynamite pick-up from the last controversy in the book, the chapter "Does Old Age have Meaning?" It also richly supplements the sections on policy issues. This post-modernist approach is popular with students. The idea of creating local and even personal cultures via consumership is one they can relate to. In analyzing what the elderly consume and how that relates to their objective conditions and ideological interpretations of the world around them, students can see aspects of the world of the elderly in the some of the same market places they (the students) do their own shopping in. My main criticism of Gilleard and Higgs is that their post-modernist approach is applied to a very dour overview of aging. It is much like reading a book based on the "apocalyptic demography of aging" from the 1970s and 1980s that has been rewritten in the post-modernist conceptual scheme. My approach is to focus on the analysis of consumership as an analytic methodology, but focus on other issues in the world of aging. (Contributed by Mark Krain, University of Arkansas at Little Rock) The following excerpt from the Preface to the Gilleard and Higgs book will show why Krain's approach is provocative: "Social gerontology remains tied to concerns over lack and need, and still defines much of its subject matter around these themes. Attempts to move it away from this emphasis upon disability and the impoverishments of age are still met with considerable resistance... By insisting upon loss and lack as the necessary criteria for a sociological interest in ageing, social gerontology has structured a discipline of ageing that can see it only in these outmoded terms. No doubt it is true that the extremes of life are more interesting to portray than the modes. Our aim, however, is not to draw attention to examples such as Sophia Loren and Clint Eastwood as the epitomes of to ageing counter-culture. Rather it is to acknowledge the sheer variety of practices that, for a growing number of people, now make up the experience of later adult life." ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------ COMPARATIVE GERONTOLOGY QUIZ Don't miss Jay Sokolovsky's "Comparative Gerontology Quiz" available at his fascinating website at: http://www.stpt.usf.edu/~jsokolov/quiz.htm It's a great source for curriculum content on anthropology and aging. ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------ SLIDES ON SUCCESSFUL AGING There are slides available to illustrate key elements of the idea of the Successful Aging. The slides are produced by Dr. Robert Kahn, co-author of the book on this subject. To make use of the slides, visit http://obssr.od.nih.gov/soaring/abstracts.htm#kahn ----------------------<<< >>>------------------------ 4th EDITION OF TEXTBOOK The 4th edition of AGING: CONCEPTS and CONTROVERSIES (Pine Forge Press, Sage Publications, 2002) is now available. The book presents gerontology through "great debates" around topics such as assisted suicide, privatizing Social Security, extension of the human lifespan, and the search for meaning in later life. Details about the new, fourth edition are available at http://www.pineforge.com/ Copies of AGING: CONCEPTS and CONTROVERSIES are available at no charge for college faculty to consider for course adoption. For questions about how to get review copies, call Sage Publications for Customer Care at 1-800-818-7243 (805-499-9774 outside the U.S.) or e-mail textbooks@sagepub.com. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx This electronic newsletter, edited by Harry (Rick) Moody, is published by the Institute for Human Values in Aging in cooperation with Pine Forge Press (Sage Publications). TEACHING GERONTOLOGY contains items of interest to improve the teaching of aging. To submit items or request subscription changes, contact teachgero@yahoo.com (c) Copyright 2002; all rights reserved. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx