A Case Study on Understanding of the Elderly among High School Students : A Lesson from High Schools in Okinawa

摘要

This article aims at considering the possibility of introducing educational gerontology into Japanese high schools as a regular class based on the results of the questionnaire of the understanding of the elderly and the observation of the classes.The classes were given to assess the understanding of the elderly through lectures and Palmore's Facts on Aging Quiz for students of three high school students in Okinawa. The results show that high school students involved don't understand the real aging process and the elderly well. Attitudes learned early in the life stage have great influences in thinking andbehavior styles toward ourselves and others. It is important for students to learn the elderly and the actual aging process because the actual aging process has variety，and it is based on individuals. However，introducing educational gerontology programs into high schools has several Problems such as teacher training programs to teach gerontology，teacher's qualifications，and School curriculums.