A.J.K. O’Donnell
The air was thin, sterile of any indications resembling a living presence. In the hallway, walls were peeling cream coated paint, while the carpet pleaded to be replaced with threads not quite as worn by years of winter trample and spring grime. Scattered throughout the space, doors line the structural skeleton, and a marrow melancholy is palpable in the pupils of residents, passively accepting another bowl of thick, unidentifiable liquid. Such were initial sights upon venturing into a “high class” retirement and nursing home somewhere in the Midwest.
On the generationally distant point of the binary age line, a young person sits outside a courtroom, also somewhere in the Midwest. At the numerical age of 12, the request to live with a single parent is denied on the basis of “cultivating healthy familial growth,” though this solidifies years of unchecked abuse to perpetuate.
In the United States, there is a radically troubling displacement of age variants that fall into categorical groups deemed either futile or callow. The systematic discrimination of individuals based upon their age is fittingly defined as “Ageism.” Those who unfairly sit in this constrained box are those typically under the age of 18 — including college students — and those who have entered into retirement, predominantly the ages of 65 and older. The degradation of individuals, rooted solely upon their respective numerical age, not only retroactively disregards unique life experiences but also creates a culture of silencing those who are worthy of being heard and validated.
College campuses across the country, as one could image, are festering breeding grounds for ageism to occur. Regardless of what some may tell you, there is no Ph.D. for Life. Wisdom and intellectual stature are far from mere acquisition of critical terms, formulas, or key theories — it is the expanding connections between oneself and their mind, their exterior, and their reactions to the two. While a Ph.D. or an A in coursework is extremely honorable, it does not dictate a person’s true ability to function or contribute to this universe.
Sadly, like many attributes to the United State’s secular world, ageism becomes even more of a detriment when applied intersectionality. Ageism commonly manifests hand-in-hand with other social ills such as racism, sexism, faithism, and heterosexism. A young boy, born in a misrepresenting body, should not have to be disregarded as a confused girl until their 19th birthday. An elderly black man should be treated with the same respect and resources as his white peers. A young Latina girl is entitled to convert to a new faith, whether her “experience” of life is called into question due to her teenage status.
As students pour into lecture halls throughout the nation, even in Iowa City, it is important to remember how to validate your personhood by confronting ageist confinements. When a professor seems to disregard your proposals, because of your status as a student, examine how such behaviors deplete any further enriching discussions from multiple perspectives. Students who have experienced homelessness for three years or who have had to maintain dual jobs to support their family — as they attended high school — may have a much more profound contribution to their coursework or social spheres than “typical” teenagers. Likewise, students who have lived comfortable, and routine livelihoods will learn nothing from professors, who have experienced the world within their respective fields, if they believe the professor to be merely tipping over the edge of retirement and question if they have a fully intact cranium.
The only way to effectively begin unplugging the numerical clock of ageist norms is to disregard age as an indicator of any true potential. As humans, we each experience life on a specifically tailored spectrum of external and internal interactions and translations of said interactions. The culmination of these experiences gives us a distinctive presence in any discussion, community, or transaction of thought. Such as with the child in the courthouse and the elderly in the nursing home, it is imperative that those among us who fall into the “unreliable or naïve” categories are subsequently seen as fellow individuals of unseen potential to eyes which are blinded. Treating one another with dignity and unrestricted validation is the only chance any community or campus has at breaking the culture of ageism.