Intergenerational Scholarship

Abstract

However, the more one thinks about the term intergenerational, the more it becomes apparent that gerontology in and of itself is an intergenerational endeavor. Our intergenerational exchanges may occur in our scholarship (e.g., a person who studies aging but is not part of the generation she or he is studying), our pedagogy (navigating the generational divide is a challenge almost all of us face in a classroom, which in some ways is made more challenging when presenting gerontological course content), or our lived experiences (many of us were inspired to become gerontologists because of our experiences with people of different generations). In some ways, one could argue that how we interact with and understand each other across generations is foundational to gerontology, applied or otherwise. The first article in this month's issue by Cohen-Mansfield and Jensen (2017) features a broad assessment of the prevalence and impact of schoolbased intergenerational programs in the Tel-Aviv region. Nearly half of the schools reported intergenerational programming of some kind, and these initiatives were positively appraised by older persons, teachers, and coordinators. However, the content of these programs appeared to vary considerably, particularly in those programs where older volunteers would assist children. Cohen-Mansfield and Jensen (2017) conclude with a series of recommendations to enhance the implementation of and resource allocation to school-based intergenerational programs. In an intriguing contrast, Doron, Lowenstein, and Biggs (2017) utilized comparative case law methodology to examine a legal issue that is pressing given the current economic and political climate: whether labor union members have the legal right to strike in favor of nonactive workers to improve (or even maintain) 688777J AGXXX10.