sessions 2-3 readings - asia's aging (10/15)

[Anonymous]

China is a communist country (90% of policy is established by the Central Government) and not enough social work in academia or professionalization of social work. One of the issues social work needs to address is the aging community, which does not have infrastructure of care. China's goal is to have 2 million social workers within 4 years without currently having any educational background in social work.

Filial Piety - Chinese youth move to industrialized cities to work and leave their aging parents (the decline of multi-generational homes compared to the U.S. in the 50’s in which industrial cities housed multi-generational homes, that were dismantled by the U.S. push to move to single family suburban homes - i.e. Suzie Homemaker era). In both cases multi-generational homes became unpopular.

A problem that resulted in China is a huge disconnect between not only the ages but the perception of age-related health issues becoming stigmatized. So there is a large push to educate – specifically but not limited to – Chinese college students in how to bridge this social gap in understanding and information.

An unfortunate repercussion of the Japanese/Chinese divide - as with all divides - is the cross cultural learning the could positively effect both societies. An example of this is that in Japan, “….turning 60 is a milestone birthday known in Japanese as kanreki, an age when you return to your birth zodiac after five cycles of the Chinese zodiac, marking a rebirth into one’s second childhood.”

A great example of how to bridge the age gap would be the one set by Bruno Mars in his video 24K. Hip hop trio dance can teach us all that age is no barrier. Three awesome grandmas from Japan, ages 56, 59, and 61, show off their impressive street dance moves and could potential provide inspiration to all.

【Vid】 http://en.rocketnews24.com/2016/11/27/hip-hop-trio-dance-to-bruno-mars-24k-magic-teach-us-all-that-age-is-no-barrier-to-anything%e3%80%90vid%e3%80%91/
edited by rcharles on 11/27/2016

[Anonymous]

In a society where it is common for the mother to bear the full responsibility for raising children, overseeing their education, and also managing the family's finances it is no wonder that younger generations of women are opting out of marriage in order to pursue careers. The expectations on women's roles in contemporary urban life really mean that most women can't work outside the home so they essentially have to give up whatever accomplishments they achieved in the workforce to become full time wives and mothers. They're responsible for the education of their children; they're responsible for managing the household; they may in some cases have responsibilities for aging parents. Without a social welfare system that provides for the independent living and care of the elderly, many Japanese women find themselves having to take care of elderly relatives, their own parents, or their husband's parents. Japanese women are expected to devote themselves full time over the next fifteen or twenty years to raising children only to have that responsibility replaced by caring for the elderly. This puts an extra burden on the stresses that Japanese women face within the family, given that they are already expected to bear nearly the fully responsibility for their children's raising, education, family finances, and so on. On the flip side, the men are responsible for providing for everyone. He must be financially secure enough to support his wife, children and eventually his parents. It is no wonder that relationship goals become too tremendous and many are opting out of the pressure. Here is a clip on how technology, society and individualism is replacing Japanese traditional views on relationships and marriage: [Vid] https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9JeQdacAYNOOVN2MmIzVVhaX1E/view?usp=sharing
edited by rcharles on 11/28/2016

[Anonymous]

Session 2
In Japan, the Rise of Machines Solves Labor Shortage
The use and future use of robots in Japan is very exciting to me for many reasons. First of all, using robots in the factories and workplace could be a key component for people with learning differences to be successful in their work environment. The robots that workers are wearing are not only helping workers lift and assist them in maneuvering objects, but it could also help people with disabilities troubleshoot in different job scenarios. This advancement could bring independent living to people who sometimes need extra support in achieving this luxury.
Another area for robot use that interests me is using the robots as
service devices to help with anxiety. Many individuals with Autism and other learning disabilities struggle with anxiety and being able to participate with others. This is a real problem when they are expected to work and earn a living to support themselves. Having a “service robot” to decrease one’s anxiety and stress is remarkable! Many of the students I teach would not be interested in having a service animal, but said that they would love having a personal robot to guide them in their daily activities.
Finally, people with physical disabilities and limitations could benefit from this in many ways. Moving around, toileting, eating, etc. I think of all of the possibilities and people who would benefit from this in the US and know that Japan has some of the same issues. The article was written with the elderly in mind; however, I can envision this innovation changing the quality of life for students and adults living with disabilities.

[Anonymous]

Session 3- Aging Society: Japan
Japan is facing some of the same social issues that the United States and other countries are facing. Social Security is always a political topic that Americans are passionate about along with the healthcare, living conditions, etc. for our elderly population. In Japan, there are three dividers including; white collar/blue collar, men/women, and regular worker/ non-regular worker. Japan is unique in that their population has a decline in birthrate and an increase in aging Japanese. Some of the factors affecting this are, the younger generation is moving from rural areas to cities, lack of immigration, and elderly people choosing to live alone. Like the US, retirement is being forced on individuals who are not ready to retire and they are struggling to have the income to support their level of living.
Some of the solutions that Japan has come up with are asking mothers and families to increase the amount of children they are having- how do you do this in a democracy? They are also offering more jobs to people who have retired. The down side is that the jobs that are being offered are the less desired “non-regular- jobs”. These jobs are more labor intense, with a lower pay scale. Another solution is building more retirement homes and communities, but as we know, the cost for this is very high and not everybody will be able to live in these communities.
I teach a Work Skills class for my special education teens and these are some of the things we discuss. What is going to happen to you when you are a “senior citizen”? Who is going to take care of you? What steps can you take in order to make sure you have a place to live and food to eat when you are of a certain age? It is surprising to my students that other countries are facing these same questions and seeking ways to make sure that their elderly populations are being cared for.

[Anonymous]

I found this article interesting because all societies must find a way to care for their elderly and it is both sad and eye-opening to read about Lee Hua, who thought she would be economically secure in her golden years but unfortunately, fate would have it otherwise. Her story, in which her 4 children were unwilling or unable to help care for her, is tragically familiar to me. I have a cousin whose husband’s business was failing and they convinced my uncle and aunt to loan them what amounted to their life savings. They could not save the business and ended up losing their home at the beach as well. The family dinner discussion about them tended to focus on the folly of my uncle and aunt for allowing this to happen. But what else could they do? American culture tends to focus on children and helping them get ahead. We haven’t always given much consideration for the elderly in this country unless it becomes a problem that is too hard to ignore. This is complicated by a debate about whose role it is: the government or the family. Social Security was the result of great human suffering caused by the Great Depression, but it is not enough to live on comfortably and is constantly in jeopardy of being scaled back or privatized by its political opponents. The concept of “filial piety” has been a strength in Taiwan, one we would do well to emulate. However, it seems that the Taiwanese are increasingly embracing an “every man for themselves” philosophy which is all too common here in the United States.

[Anonymous]

This article talks about problems with funding for public employee pensions in China’s northeastern province (Manchuria). This reminds me of an ongoing debate in the U.S. that reached a fevered pitch after the 2008 recession. For years state and local governments would incentivize public employment with attractive pension plans instead of higher salaries. However, dwindling revenues and tight budgets inspired a backlash pension reform movement championed by Republican lawmakers. We saw this as a centerpiece of Governor Scott Walker’s political rise in Wisconsin, in which he pitted himself against the powerful teachers unions. As he proposed legislation in 2011 to cripple the collective bargaining rights of the unions nearly 100,000 protestors converged on the state capital. I was reminded of this when I read the article on the teacher’s strike in Zhaodong City. In both cases teachers wanted the government to honor the terms of their employment. In both cases the government was unable to provide adequate financial resources to pay for the benefits they had promised. In the case of the northeastern province, the author concludes that the solution is to reverse the one child policy and incentivize a population shift to the provinces. In the United States the solution has been to weaken the power of unions to make what many feel are necessary changes to pension systems. Either way, both China and the United States are in the same boat when it comes to the struggle to pay for public services.

[Anonymous]

Taking care of the planet requires a united effort. I am glad to see that there are social organizations in Taiwan that have joined other countries in the effort to improve the environment. It is great to see that some people invest their time and resources to create recycling centers to collect plastic containers and using new technologies to re- utilize those bottles in creating new useful garments. In addition it does provide opportunities for people to give back to their communities and at the same time helps to sustain the nation’s economy by creating new jobs. This presentation is a good resource for the classroom. AP Spanish has a theme about Recycling and the textbook Realidades 1 includes a chapter for this topic too.

[Anonymous]

Professor Hsinyi Hsiao
I enjoyed professor Hsiao presentation; I found it very interesting because I noticed several cultural similarities between the East and the Latino culture. To begin with, I believe Latinos are well known for not having a sense of punctuality mainly for social gatherings; Unpunctuality is a characteristic that we share with some Asian people. Another similarity between Asian and Latinos are Opinions. For some reason Latinos tend to twist things around instead of going right up to the point. Moreover, in Latin America, due to the lack government sponsored clinics to care for the elderly, family members must provide the needed care. These are just a few of the similarities between these two cultures.

[Anonymous]

I think these topics are very important to teach students about. We tell them often about how many people are on the planet but we don't really prepare them for the declining population. I always tell my kids, that yes the population is big BUT now we need to make sure we can sustain the population. I think it's great your kids are able to volunteer at an old folks home, too often students don't know how to interact with the elderly. I recently lost the first of of my grandparents and have realized more and more how lonely it can be in old age.

[Anonymous]

This article had me very troubled. It was very disturbing to find Taiwan's elderly left to fend for themselves with very little assistance from the government or their families. The notion of filial piety had been a longstanding tradition. What in the world would cause that to change? Why has there been a shift in family values? The article reported that 2,800 seniors sought assistance as a result of abuse, neglect, or abandonment in 2010 and it seems that the government wasn't prepared for this. Now, the government is considering jail time for "adults who fail to look after their elderly parents." This notion that children move away and don't take care of aging parents sounds very American. Would it be egocentric to blame this shift on Taiwan's desire to be "more modern" or be Americanized? Guilty as charged, I moved clear across the country with my husband instead of staying near my mother who now is retirement age. The difference is, though, that in the United States, there is a system in place that tries to ensure that people can be taken care of once they've retired from the work force. Would it be difficult that in a largely agrarian society, elderly care be written into the plan?

[Anonymous]

While lots of people are excited about the advancement of technology and what it means for education and student engagement, I am slightly concerned for those students who do not necessarily have access to the technology or even have the technology but don't have teachers who are appropriately prepared to engage them in tech based learning. Sure, there are lots of resources out there with Hour of Code and the like, but if the students don't have the technology or the teachers aren't resourceful, what good is all of it?

I think it's great that Japan is using technology to address their labor shortage problem, but it reminds me of the movie "Hidden Figures" when the IBM was first introduced at NASA. Although it was installed to replace the human computers to do the work, there still needed to be someone to program them...same with the robots in Japan, I'm sure.

I am very curious about the advancement of service robots for patients who need assistants with physical therapy. I'm sure that it will do a great bit of good, and my hope is that the cost will come down enough so that this type of assistance can be accessed equitably.

[Anonymous]

It makes sense that Korea was worried about not having enough food after the Korean War, and decided to urge people not to have children. But about 60 years later, the effects of that began to be negative, and thus the government began to reverse it's policies and instead encourage people to have a child or two. As seems to be typical, when a problem arises, people overreact and that eventually causes a different kind of problem. This topic doesn't fit in with Riverside history, as far as I can tell, but I know some Korean students who study here in Southern California. I'm curious to get their thoughts on this subject, and, if Korea's population is aging, why are they here instead of at home? Perhaps their generation is too small in number......their reasons may indicate how Riverside's population and communities are still changing and people continue to immigrate. (That would match with third grade standards.) But now, I find that a lot of people live in more than one place. They may have a home base, but they also live in other places around the world.

[Anonymous]

I love the new models of filial piety. It would really be fun to check these out with my students and compare them to what they are learning and make a book. Of course, we would not call it filial piety. We could create a one-page synopsis/picture with captions or speech bubbles of a korean lesson on one side, and then a similar one on the other side - something that students come up with that is meaningful to them and their families.

[Anonymous]

This was really, really fascinating. This was the first I'd learned about Japanese Ie, and ancestor worship, except in movies. I didn't understand the depth and importance of the Ie as similar to a 'corporation.' We are so free in the US to do our own thing, that I had no concept of how structured the family is/was in Japan. As is true everywhere, older ways do not continue. The structure of the Ie is breaking down. I paired this with the Yasukuni Shrine, since we had already talked about that in class.

[Anonymous]

Asian countries have noticed that they have a problem on the rise with fewer young people, and more people aging. If the old must rely on the young to take care of them, that is a huge problem. Our ideas of aging in general need to change - everywhere. We need to stop thinking of career and retirement, and start thinking of people as serving valuable purposes until they are literally unable to function. The thing that kills people the fastest is having nothing to live for. This is true of both work and family. If your family leaves you, everyone to his own devices, we are not healthy as a society. Also, if we try to decided that people are irrelevant at a certain age, then we have lost a very valuable part of our society. Older people have already lived through so much, they possess answers to questions and solutions to problems that we cannot tap into if we discard them. This really dovetails with our disrespect for each other in general. Racial disrespect, gender disrespect, sexual disrespect, age disrespect - discrimination against anyone is a loss for all. We need to stop labeling each other and seek to learn from each other instead.

[Author]

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