Living Old
With advances in science and technology, people in the U.S. are living longer and the “old” account for a large and growing segment of the population. This will present new challenges for society, in particular how we will care for those who are physically frail and who may have diminished mental and/or physical capacities and so need assistance. This program considers the increasing demand for caregivers and the decline in the number of those able and willing to assume these roles

Questions to Consider:

1. Caring for an aging person is often considered the responsibility of the individual’s immediately family members. Is this a personal trouble or a public issue?
2. What are some strategies for addressing the matter?
3. Have you given thought to what you would do if an aged loved one was no longer able to live independently/could not care for himself/herself without assistance?

Can you Afford to Retire?
Many Boomers are entering what they had once believed would be their retirement years only to find that they are financially ill-prepared to quit working. This Frontline special examines the economic realities of retirement for Boomers at both the micro and macro levels.

Questions to Consider:

1. Describe the problem Boomers—and society—are facing.
2. Use your sociological imagination: is this a personal trouble or a public issue? Both?
3. Was this foreseeable? Could it have been predicted? Explain your answer.
4. Have you given thought to your retirement? Why or why not?

New Rules in the Workplace
Millennials are now beginning to join the job force. In this segment, Doug Akin who has studied Millennials, talks about this generation’s work habits. It is a decidedly upbeat assessment of the traits this generation brings into the marketplace.

Questions to Consider:

1. Why do Millennials switch jobs?
2. With respect to products, what do Millennials value?
3. How do Millennials believe that decisions should be made?
4. Are Akins’s findings consistent with what you have observed of Millennials?
5. If Akins’s characterization of The Millennial Generation is accurate, how might this generation’s work habits, priorities, and values come into conflict with those of other generations, such as The Boomers and Gen Xers?

The Age of the Millennials
Morley Safer reports for 60 Minutes about the characteristics of Millennials and connects these to the cultural environment in which they grew up. It’s a decidedly curmudgeonly view of the generation.

Questions to Consider:

1. According to this report, how are the attitudes and values of this generation incompatible with the current workplace environment?
2. How are Boomer and Gen Xer bosses told to “handle” the Millennials in the workplace?
3. What do “coddling” and the stress on being “special” have to do with the characteristics found in Millennials?
4. Do you agree with the assessment of Millennials offered in this segment? Explain your response.

A Right to Die, A Will to Live
This New York Times video (produced in connection with a feature in the NYT Sunday Magazine) profiles Peggy Battin, a bioethicist, who has advocated for the rights of people who are gravely ill and/or seriously debilitated to legally end their own lives. The topic is now very close to home given her husband’s physical incapacitation. It is an emotional and provocative look at the issue of assisted suicide/euthanasia. 1. Did you have a firm position on the matter before watching the video? Did the video cause you to reconsider that position? Explain your answers.

Questions to Consider:

1. Is this a matter that should be decided publicly or privately?
2. The debate about legal euthanasia has intensified in recent years. How have medical/technological advances contributed to the increasing frequency with which this topic arises (in the media, in political discussions...)?