Judy Aten, who took the course with her husband, Gary, said the experience offered a unique chance to relate to young people. “The entire class leaves with a laugh or a smile - a win-win for all.”įurman students and OLLI students during a 2017 class enjoy dabbing, a dance recently popularized by an NFL player. “The Furman students are impressed at how active and interesting the retired generation really are, while the OLLI members are pleased with how curious and caring the college students can be,” she said. Susan Rae, associate director of OLLI, said the Furman students and the OLLI members both leave the class with new friends and new impressions of each other’s generation. “We don’t empathize with people if we don’t know them,” she said. A recent study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that programs that foster intergenerational contact and teach about the aging process reduced ageism. Learning together is the perfect way to dispel ageism, DeJong said. OLLI offers noncredit courses, interest groups, travel and events for senior-adult learners. In the class, undergraduates and older adults enrolled in the OLLI program study specific issues related to aging, such as nutrition and exercise, work and retirement, learning and leisure, legal and financial concerns, and family relationships. She teaches a human development class that covers birth to death but realized that older adulthood was a stage of development that didn’t get enough time during a semester-long course. Hopefully, it will give them a more positive view of this generation and reduce some of the negative stereotypes.”ĭeJong began offering the intergenerational class a few years ago. “(The class) gives them a greater appreciation and understanding of the age period. “Our students aren’t around senior citizens enough,” DeJong said. In many cases, grandparents are the only perspective students have. Understanding the older generation is what the class is all about. I picture us with a suitcase on a cruise ship.” “They picture us sitting and watching TV. “He got the way I dress, but not necessarily the way I think,” said Aten. Gary Aten, a member of Furman’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute program and a participant in the class, was wearing precisely that. One student’s drawing showed a man wearing a checkered shirt and Sketcher sneakers. On the first day of class, Lorraine DeJong, associate professor of education, asked the students enrolled in her “Intergenerational Learning with Seniors” May Experience course to draw a picture of a 75-year-old.
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