Should age and experience be valued over youth? Why?

Question

Lim Yu-Beng will next be seen as the sadistic Dentist in "Little Shop of Horrors", book and lyrics by Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menken. Also starring Dim Sum Dollies. Directed by Glen Goei. Opens 2 Nov, Victoria Theatre. Tickets from Sistic now! http://www.sistic.com.sg/cms/events/index.html?content=461

Yahoo! Staff Note: This is the real Lim Yu-Beng, noted actor in Singapore. Read more at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-MGDi7jooRKdkeRYUnxy0dM2nzwlKPgAuVA--?cq=1&p=318

Answer 1

I know from the list that you have had plenty of answers to this question already. But, something happened to me this week that gives me reason to respond as well.
I am a senior citizen and have a "few" years experience in life, but I found myself in a situation which caused emotional pain due to an unpleasant memory from the past. It was a young man who had the wisdom I needed to see things which I could not see.
I believe if we are teachable, the age of the person from whom we are able to learn is not a factor. We should value each person, no matter their age. If our eyes and ears are open to them, we senior aged and life experienced adults can even learn from little children.

Answer 2

Of course age and experience should be valued over youth, in most cases that is. Why do I say that? Anybody, be it an actor, sales person, businessman etc would have gathered a whole wealth of experience that comes with time. There are tons of things out there that text books don't and can't teach. You go through what I'd call the school of hard-knocks, learning what works and what doesn't and along those years, experiencing the joys of success and the pain of failure. You sharpen skills or your craft and that ultimately makes you better at what you do as compared to a newbie.
Of course that being said, I'm not against newbies either. The education system has evolved over the years, with subjects and topics being revamped so students get to learn more and with better content. Where age and experience has the advantage? Well, I guess we old birds actually see and experience things that newbies read about in books.

Answer 3

Hi Yu beng,
From the way society is going, it's either you are very experienced or you are very young, you are more likely to be employed than those people in between.
If i'm an employer, i will choose a person who have a great deal of experience who can help me with my buisness. If not, i will like to choose young souls who have the energy and drive, and i would like to see what he can come up with.
An average experienced employee who have some ideas on how things work, even to an extend of workflow. In this case, 50% of his creativity is limited to what he already knows, which means less likely he will have ideas contributing due to his stereotype of workflow or past training. This is exactly the facade which is blinding some employers these days.
Hence, age and experience should not be the only factor determining a person's capability.
We have seen both very experienced people and young ones succeeding, as well as those who just have some experience. Well, we pretty sure have seen these 3 categories of souls struggling to find jobs. What does it mean? Simply means determination, hard work, attitude, and sometime, abit of luck plays a part.
All the best guys!

Answer 4

Does age and experience always tie together? What about youth and inexperience? Stereotype or assumption? No one can guarantee a matured and experienced person makes no mistakes. Similarly, a younger person with no experience may also excel. Life examples are everywhere around us, young talents, young sportsperson, young entrepreneurs...(well, perhaps some learned from those with more experience while others, unless of course if you prefer to call them genius, are simply young and talented)

Naturally, all of us will grow old one day, we all want to be a useful person. Age and experience does hold a significant value and shouldn't be neglected.

The perfect combination would be youth + experience! So for those already in the "age" category, keeping a young and positive mentality is definitely a plus point! That way you'll become young at heart too!

Final tot: Experience that comes with age doesn't necessarily score advantages; Being young can also compromise experience with other strengths such as energy, youth, greater flexibility and adaptability.

Cheers

Answer 5

I think it is a question of how these two entities are related and not why they should be valued over youth. The first most important thing that needs to be addressed is the value of these qualities. "Age" is not age per se. I am sure we have heard the usual "It is just a number" sentence more than the number of times that make our age. Thus, the entity age is just a numeral. We have created it. Creationism theory thus not only brings Essentialism into play but the whole idea and theory that we merely create things as they are. Some would say that the existence of God is in itself a creation of man. However, let's leave that our for another topic. Anyway, it's just an example. Next, we have "Experience". How do you measure the extent at which you can or cannot experience something? Can we return to how social-cognitive behaviorists like Albert Bandura once proposed that the environment and how we react to the environment in terms of behavior and vice versa affect who we are and what we know? These are observable characteristics. Behavior is observable. But the extent to which it can give us "experience" is cognitive. Its all in the mind. Once again, I would boil this down to the Creationism theory whereby we merely create things as they are. Not disregarding the fact that we may often think our thoughts are independent of environmental, cultural and religious influences.In fact, they are. We cannot be Reductionists today. Because we are not running away from Hitler anymore (thankfully), let's all understand that there is more to this life about "Age", "Experience" and "Youth" than we think. Sure, these are all terms that we often create to console ourselves of our existence. But more often than not, we realise it doesn't mean anything. That it doesn't make any sense. Have you ever asked yourself why you need to find the meaning to what "Youth" means?No. We just merely go find the meaning. In fact, it does not have any meaning. We are what we are. There was this vivid book that I was reading recently by Joseph Conrad entited Heart of Darkness and let me tell you what it has taught me : "it is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch's of one's existence - that which makes its truth,its meaning - its subtle penetrating essence... We live, as we dream - alone". Remember how when someone asked you :"Hey, Max,how are you feeling today?" and you just couldnt think of a proper term to answer so you just gave in to yourself and just said.."I am happy". How does happy define how you actually feel? It can't. It perhaps becomes a consolation to your existence. Sometimes, we just need to embrace and appreciate what we are for what we are. If we know what we are, that is. Will we ever? You decide.

Answer 6

This is a mixed yes and no answer, a la "grey area". Yu-Beng himself in his youth was a "little monster" of sorts, frizzy-haired (the hair thing is moot now :-)) and bespectacled (the big, black plastic-framed kind) and terrorising everyone in WMC (you'll have to ask Yu-Beng what those initials mean :-)) with karate chops (of which I also fell victim then :-)). I am glad that his youthful energy then was channelled well into the person he is today. Age and experience is only valued over youth only if the experiences that have been gained over time with the lessons learnt and understood. If not, there is really no value at all.

Answer 7

Hi Yu Beng :)

I guess there's a reason why we're all still looking back at history...and learning from them... the older we are, the more life episodes have already unfold... I believe the ppl in 30's will look at the ppl in their 20's and say - been there, gone through that, you'll survive... the 40's will say the same to the 30's...

My straight answer will be yes.

When I have gone through the life stages, I was like...wow... I know better now.

I dun believe it's tough to teach old dogs new tricks, it's jus an issue of letting down the pride. Young punks can be stubborn and wanting our own say to be valued.

Regardless of age, everyone is learning new things.

A new graduate vs 1st year in grad school.
A father vs a grandfather

Anyways, to me age and experience comes in 1st place... a higher price, as we've paid our dues through the stages.

Answer 8

Age and experience play a pivotal role in humanity in terms of working and leading a full life.

Based on the 80/20 principle, many are steadfast in their stance in believing that 80% of the job can be learnt in 20% of the time and the remaining 20% of the job can only be supplemented slowly with age and experience.

Based loosely on such believes, it is then casted upon that many are believing that youth and the relative "cheaper" cost of usage may suffice the lost of say 10% job knowledge. As compared to a older and much experienced staff at 90% job knowledge.

However with job knowledge comes performance, which summed forms efficiency.

An older worker is less a performer and thus with the summations, people still have the general believe that younger chap will outperform the older gun.

Answer 9

I feel that age doesn't necessary means experience. Just because someone has lived more years doesn't mean that he or she has learnt more, lived more and experienced more.

Perhaps I am young, but I feel that sometimes ageism can be quite a sin, because it has led to people valuing essentially just a older person over a younger but equally if not more experienced person. Just an example, I have a good friend who is an excellent trainer, has all the skills and traits of a solid performer, has local and regional experience, and has a track record that beats those twice his age. However, when he attends interviews, he found out that most interviewers are intimidated by his experience.

To be young is to be able to take possiblities, try them, tease and test, success and fail, to have a world of possiblities. I woudn't go so far to say that younger is better, but sometimes, if you looked around, it is the young who are advancing our civilization sometimes, imbuing our hopes and dreams with enough reckless to innovate.

Let us not ever choose someone older just because well, he's older. May the better player win. The young need their chance with lady luck too.

Answer 10

It's a yes and no question. There's no right or wrong. As people age, they gain experience none of the youngsters would have. They learn how to accept, tolerate and to love. In work wise, they learn how to handle customers, how to be strict and handle relationships between collegues. What to do at the right time and what to say. Sad to say is when a person grows old, so does the illness and problems. That is when youth are more valued. And youth are able to work harder, generally speaking. Those youths without family committments are able to clock more hours for companies, be more productive and more creative. Not saying older people are not creative, but they lack the boldness and are more traditional.
This is just my point of view...both are valued...

Answer 11

I feel that experience counts and not age (how old or young one is). Whether it is teaching, a managerial position or whatever, experience is key. What is the good of having youth and good looks (for entertainment) when the person lacks experience and talent? Therefore, I feel age should not be a deciding factor. Although experience comes with age, it may not always be true for some. We gain experience through the circumstances and the situations we've been through in life.

That said, we should also give youths a chance. There are many young talented people out there waiting to be discovered. It's just a question of opportunity for these young people. Therefore, one should not be too quick to dismiss or set aside a youth just because he/she lacks experience. If we never give them chance, we will never know how capable they are.

In light of all that has been said, it is most important that we choose the person because of their experience or a distinctive quality about them, not just their age and looks.